Guilty! Guilty! Guilty!

[Guest]

Obstruction of Justice is a crime punishable by 5 plus years in prison. He got off on that. Lying to Investigators is almost nothing in comparison. A few months for each charge. This is not perjury and probably the reason Libby did not take the witness stand - which could have lead to perjury charges. All in all, he got away with it.

CNN sees it differently :

Libby was convicted of:

# obstruction of justice when he intentionally deceived a grand jury investigating the outing of CIA operative Valerie Plame;

# making a false statement by intentionally lying to FBI agents about a conversation with NBC newsman Tim Russert;

# perjury when he lied in court about his conversation with Russert;

# a second count of perjury when he lied in court about conversations with other reporters.

Jurors cleared Libby of a second count of making a false statement relating to a conversation he had with writer Matt Cooper, formerly of Time magazine.

Libby, 56, faces a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison (emphasis mine) and a fine of $1 million. A hearing on a presentencing report is scheduled for June 5.

CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin said, "He is virtually certain to go to prison if this conviction is upheld."

 

[Jenny_Jackson]

CNN sees it differently :

Libby was convicted of:

# obstruction of justice when he intentionally deceived a grand jury investigating the outing of CIA operative Valerie Plame;

# making a false statement by intentionally lying to FBI agents about a conversation with NBC newsman Tim Russert;

# perjury when he lied in court about his conversation with Russert;

# a second count of perjury when he lied in court about conversations with other reporters.

Jurors cleared Libby of a second count of making a false statement relating to a conversation he had with writer Matt Cooper, formerly of Time magazine.

Libby, 56, faces a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison (emphasis mine) and a fine of $1 million. A hearing on a presentencing report is scheduled for June 5.

CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin said, "He is virtually certain to go to prison if this conviction is upheld."

But CNN is overstating, Ted. If you go back to Libby's court appearances he used all the "right" phrases that liars always fall back on : "As I remember...," "As I recollect...," and "If I remember correctly..." Those phrases let him off the hook for perjury. The charges brought to court for which he was convicted were "Lying to investigators" and "Lying to the FBI" not perjury. How long he will serve in prison is and open question. The sentencing guidelines seem to be pretty much up to the court from what I read. I still think it will be a sentence of 12 to 15 months, not the 25 year maximum.

 

[WarLordwrites]

I just read all the news stories in Reuters and CNN on the guilty verdict. I see it this way:

4 guilty verdicts for lying to investigators and the FBI.
1 Not guilty verdict for obstruction of justice.

Obstruction of Justice is a crime punishable by 5 plus years in prison. He got off on that. Lying to Investigators is almost nothing in comparison. A few months for each charge. This is not perjury and probably the reason Libby did not take the witness stand - which could have lead to perjury charges. All in all, he got away with it.

I do expect some fallout for the DICK though.

Greetings

Salon has him guilty on obstruction:

The verdict came on the 10th day of the jury's deliberations. Eleven jurors -- the 12th was dismissed after being exposed to press reports about the case -- found Libby guilty of 1) obstructing justice by lying to the grand jury about how he learned and whom he told about Plame; 2) making a false statement by lying to the FBI about a conversation he said he had about Plame with NBC's Tim Russert; 3) committing perjury by lying to the grand jury about his conversation with Russert; and 4) committing perjury by lying about his conversation with Cooper and other reporters.

I'd say the obstruction and lying to Grand Jury be treated more seriously

Looks more like hard time or perhaps more like lets make a deal!

Enjoy the journey

WarLord

 

[rgraham666]

I'll bet Mr. Libby is praying the Bush White House doesn't remember the adage 'Dead men tell no tales'.

 

[shereads]

It really makes no differnce, Rob. There is a long standing federal law that holds the President and Vice-President harmless for "...deeds done in the perfomance of their elected duties." Bank robbery, rape, murder and jaywalking, I do not believe are covered.

Lying to Congress is impeachable, provided the lie was under oath and involves oral sex with a woman known to own at least one beret (or beret-like headwear).

 

[shereads]

I do expect some fallout for the DICK though.

Don't be mean. Dick is ill.



How convenient.

I believe the medically expedient treatment for deep-vein thrombosis is resignation and a therapeutic move to Halliburton Island, a South Pacific atoll most recently occupied by no one of any importance and currently the site of a major development project to feature an excellent private hospital, a hunting preserve stocked with exotic game animals and peasants from all over the world, and a Tom Fazio golf course. The project is funded by a committee of anonymous private donors formerly known as the Vice President's Energy Policy Task Force, and allegedly supplemented by overcharges from Halliburton's Iraq rebuilding contracts.

Halliburton Island has no extradition treaty with the United States but is otherwise on good diplomatic terms.

Pizza delivery is via Blackhawk helicopter from nearby Guam.

 

[shereads]

But CNN is overstating, Ted. If you go back to Libby's court appearances he used all the "right" phrases that liars always fall back on : "As I remember...," "As I recollect...," and "If I remember correctly..." Those phrases let him off the hook for perjury. The charges brought to court for which he was convicted were "Lying to investigators" and "Lying to the FBI" not perjury. How long he will serve in prison is and open question. The sentencing guidelines seem to be pretty much up to the court from what I read. I still think it will be a sentence of 12 to 15 months, not the 25 year maximum.

Didn't Martha Stewart do time for lying to the FBI?

 

[shereads]

Also from Salon:

Libby juror asks: What about Rove?

From a juror in the Scooter Libby case: "There was tremendous amount of sympathy for Mr. Libby on the jury. It was said a number of times, 'What are we doing with this guy here? Where's Rove? Where are these other guys?'"

The juror said he and his colleagues believe that Libby had been "tasked" by Dick Cheney to talk with reporters about Valerie Plame.

Ya think?!

 

[Jenny_Jackson]

Didn't Martha Stewart do time for lying to the FBI?

No. Stewart did time for Insider Trading. Everyone who's guilty of a crime lies about it. That's not concidered a crime for some reason.

 

[Jenny_Jackson]

Lying to Congress is impeachable, provided the lie was under oath and involves oral sex with a woman known to own at least one beret (or beret-like headwear).

True, but you can't indict the DICK for lying to congress when he was following "Faulty Intellegence", even though the intellegence came from him.

 

[shereads]

No. Stewart did time for Insider Trading. Everyone who's guilty of a crime lies about it. That's not concidered a crime for some reason.

Not true!

The Insider Trading charge was dropped for lack of evidence. But by that time, the case had generated so much publicity, they pretty much had to charge her with something. She was tried and convicted for lying about certain aspects of the trade when she was originally under suspicion of insider trading. As one pundit put it, Stewart was convicted of "being afraid of going to jail."

Imagine how that would work if you were suspected of murder:

"You killed him, didn't you, Ms. Jackson!"

"No, I didn't. I swear!"

"You stabbed him with the ginsu knife you gave him for Christmas."

"I didn't give him a ginsu knife!"

Later, when it's learned that you have a solid alibi for the night of the murder, it's also learned that you did, in fact, give the victim a ginsu knife.

Gotcha!

That's basically what happened to Martha Stewart.

 

[Huckleman2000]

...a hunting preserve stocked with exotic game animals and peasants from all over the world...

I think the brochure was supposed to read "pheasants and bold raccoons". When it went to the printer though, somehow it read "peasants and old tycoons".

 

[shereads]

I think the brochure was supposed to read "pheasants and bold raccoons". When it went to the printer though, somehow it read "peasants and old tycoons".

BWAAA-Hahahaha.

Diet Coke spew. My attorneys in touch with yours, etc.

 

[Seattle Zack]

Scooter's the fall guy. He'll get sentenced to eighteen months in Club Fed, that's the deal they promised him. He won't give up Rove or Cheney, he's a stand-up guy.

Then Bush will pardon him right before he leaves office, just like Weinberger in the 80s. That enduring Ford legacy. Thanks for that one, Gerald, it set the precedent for departing presidents to pardon their predecessor's staff for any wrongdoing.

--Zack

 

[JamesSD]

Almost no doubt Bush will pardon Libby after the Republicans lose the White House in '08. I mean, he was just following Cheney's orders after all.

Still, I'm glad justice prevailed, at least for now. I read somewhere the Jury was a little upset they weren't trying Cheney.

 

[gauchecritic]

What do I know..?

Nothing much, except the general impression that politics is corrupt (and obviously corrupting)

Seems to me that the fifth amendment (assuming that's the one about not convicting yourself from your own mouth) implies that whatever does come out of your mouth is legally obliged to be perjurous.

What I'd like to know is that when, in about 10 to 15 years, Iraq decides that it doesn't like democracy and 'installs' another general, can they then kidnap gwb and try him for warcrimes? (and Haliburton et al for peace crimes)

Never mind. If he (Libby) goes to camp then 18 months is about the right time frame for writing his memoirs entitled "The spy who screwed me."

 

[shereads]

What I'd like to know is that when, in about 10 to 15 years, Iraq decides that it doesn't like democracy and 'installs' another general,

10 t 15 years?

You meant weeks, right?

 

[shereads]

Scooter's the fall guy.

Like the red-shirts on Star Trek?

Capt. Cheney: "Beam Scooter Libby down to the surface, Lt. Rove. Someone needs to tell this planet that Wilson's wife is a CIA agent."

Lt. Rove: "Libby, Sir? But this mission is suicidal! Shouldn't we send someone expendible, like the president?"

Capt. Cheney: "I may still have some uses for our boy Dubya. Send Libby."

Cmdr. Chekov: "Enemy wessel, Captain!"

Capt. Cheney: "Vessel, you idiot."

 

[OhMissScarlett]

You know, this whole situation reminds me of:
http://www.showtimearabia.com/$Common/Media/Bob/450x271/The-Perils-Of-Penelope-Pits.jpg

Starring: Valerie Plame as Penelope Pitstop
and Dick Cheney as The Hooded Claw.

 

[Jenny_Jackson]

I'm still saying 15 months max. The Chimp will pardon Libby as soon as the 2008 election is over, regardless of how it turns out.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

How soon we forget...


The following is a partial list of people pardoned by Bill Clinton. On January 20, 2001, hours before leaving office, President Bill Clinton used his power under the U.S. Constitution to pardon 140 people, thus commuting the sentences of those already convicted of a crime, and obviating a trial for those not yet convicted.

This list is a subset of the list of people pardoned by a United States president.

Commutations

Benjamin Berger
Ronald Henderson Blackley
Bert Wayne Bolan
Gloria Libia Camargo
Charles F. Campbell
David Ronald Chandler
Lau Ching Chin
Donald R. Clark
Loreta De-Ann Coffman
Derrick Curry
Velinda Desalus
Jacob Elbaum
Linda Sue Evans
Loretta Sharon Fish
Antoinette M. Frink
David Goldstein
Gerard A. Greenfield
Jodie E. Israel
Kimberly Johnson
Billy Thornton Langston Jr.
Belinda Lynn Lumpkin
Peter MacDonald - President of the Navajo Nation
Kellie Ann Mann
Peter Ninemire
Hugh Ricardo Padmore
Arnold Paul Prosperi
Melvin J. Reynolds - Democratic Congressperson from Illinois - bank fraud; convicted on 12 counts of sexual assault, obstruction of justice and solicitation of child pornography
Pedro Miguel Riveiro
Dorothy Rivers - lead official in Jesse Jackson’s Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, plead guilty to theft of 1.2 million dollars in federal grant money
Susan Rosenberg
Kalmen Stern
Cory Stringfellow
Carlos Anibal Vignali - convicted of cocaine trafficking
Thomas Wilson Waddell III
Harvey Weinig
Kim Allen Willis
Kimba Smith
Antonio Camacho Negron - FALN militant

Pardons

Verla Jean Allen (1990 false statements to an agency of the United States)
Nicholas M. Altiere (1983 importation of cocaine)
Bernice Ruth Altschul (1992 money laundering conspiracy)
Joe Anderson Jr. (1988 income tax evasion)
William Sterling Anderson (1987 defraudment of a financial institution, false statements to a financial institution, wire fraud)
Mansour Azizkhani (1984 false statements in bank loan applications)
Cleveland Victor Babin Jr. (1987 using the U.S. mail service to defraud)
Chris Harmon Bagley (1989 conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine)
Scott Lynn Bane (Unlawful distribution of marijuana)
Thomas Cleveland Barber (Issuing worthless checks)
Peggy Ann Bargon (Violation of the Lacey Act, violation of the Bald Eagle Protection Act)
David Roscoe Blampied (possess with intent to distribute cocaine)
William Arthur Borders Jr. (Conspiracy to corruptly solicit and accept money in return for influencing the official acts of a federal district court judge (Alcee L. Hastings), and to defraud the United States in connection with the performance of lawful government functions; corruptly influencing, obstructing, impeding and endeavoring to influence, obstruct and impede the due administration of justice, and aiding and abetting therein; traveling interstate with intent to commit bribery)
Arthur David Borel (Odometer Rollback)
Douglas Chrles Borel (Odometer Rollback)
George Thomas Brabham (Making a false statement or report to a federally insured bank)
Almon Glenn Braswell (1983 mail fraud and perjury)
Leonard Browder (Illegal dispensing of controlled substance and Medicaid fraud)
David Steven Brown (Securities fraud and mail fraud)
Delores Caroylene Burleson, aka Delores Cox Burleson (Possession of Marijuana)
John H. Bustamante (wire fraud)
Mary Louise Campbell
Eloida Candelaria
Dennis Sobrevinas Capili
Donna Denise Chambers
Douglas Eugene Chapman
Ronald Keith Chapman
Francisco Larois Chavez
Henry Cisneros (former HUD Secretary)
Roger Clinton, Jr. (half-brother of President Bill Clinton)
Stuart Harris Cohn
David Marc Cooper
Ernest Harley Cox Jr.
John F. Cross Jr.
Reickey Lee Cunningham
Richard Anthony De Labio
John Deutch
Richard Douglas
Edward Reynolds Downe
Marvin Dean Dudley
Larry Lee Duncan
Robert Clinton Fain
Marcos Arcenio Fernandez
Alvarez Ferrouillet
William Dennis Fugazy
Lloyd Reid George
Louis Goldstein
Rubye Lee Gordon
Pincus Green
Robert Ivey Hamner
Samuel Price Handley
Woodie Randolph Handley
Jay Houston Harmon
Rick Hendrick
John Hummingson
David S. Herdlinger
Debi Rae Huckleberry
Donald Ray James
Stanley Pruet Jobe
Ruben H. Johnson
Linda Jones
James Howard Lake
June Louise Lewis
Salim Bonnor Lewis
John Leighton Lodwick
Hildebrando Lopez
Jose Julio Luaces
James Timothy Maness
James Lowell Manning, (1982, aiding and assisting in the preparation of a false corporate income tax return)
John Robert Martin
Frank Ayala Martinez
Silvia Leticia Beltran Martinez
John Francis McCormick
Susan H. McDougal
Howard Mechanic
Brook K. Mitchell Sr.
Samuel Loring Morison
Charles Wilfred Morgan III
Richard Anthony Nazzaro
Charlene Ann Nosenko
Vernon Raymond Obermeier
Miguelina Ogalde
David C. Owen
Robert W. Palmer
Kelli Anne Perhosky
Richard H. Pezzopane
Orville Rex Phillips
Vinson Stewart Poling Jr.
Norman Lyle Prouse
Willie H.H. Pruitt Jr.
Danny Martin Pursley Sr.
Charles D. Ravenel
William Clyde Ray
Alfredo Luna Regalado
Ildefonso Reynes Ricafort
Marc Rich - tax evasion fugitive
Howard Winfield Riddle
Richard Wilson Riley Jr.
Samuel Lee Robbins
Joel Gonzales Rodriguez
Michael James Rogers
Anna Louise Ross
Dan Rostenkowski - Former Democratic Congressman convicted in the Congressional Post Office Scandal
Gerald Glen Rust
Jerri Ann Rust
Bettye June Rutherford
Gregory Lee Sands
Adolph Schwimmer
Albert A. Seretti Jr.
Patricia Campbell Hearst Shaw
Dennis Joseph Smith
Gerald Owen Smith
Stephen A. Smith
Jimmie Lee Speake
Charles Bernard Stewart
Marlena Francisca Stewart-Rollins
Fife Symington III - former Arizona governor
Richard Lee Tannehill
Nicholas C. Tenaglia
Gary Allen Thomas
Larry Weldon Todd
Olga C. Trevino
Ignatious Vamvouklis
Patricia A. Van De Weerd
Christopher V. Wade
Bill Wayne Warmath
Jack Kenneth Watson
Donna Lynn Webb
Donald William Wells
Robert H. Wendt
Jack L. Williams
Kavin Arthur Williams
Robert Michael Williams
Jimmie Lee Wilson
Thelma Louise Wingate
Mitchell Couey Wood
Warren Stannard Wood
Dewey Worthey
Rick Allen Yale
Joseph A. Yasak
William Stanley Yingling
Phillip David Young
Keith Sanders
Darren Muci
John Scott (not a full pardon)

 

[shereads]

How soon we forget...


The following is a partial list of people pardoned by Bill Clinton. On January 20, 2001, hours before leaving office, President Bill Clinton used his power under the U.S. Constitution to pardon 140 people, thus commuting the sentences of those already convicted of a crime, and obviating a trial for those not yet convicted.

This list is a subset of the list of people pardoned by a United States president.

Commutations

Benjamin Berger
Ronald Henderson Blackley
Bert Wayne Bolan
Gloria Libia Camargo
Charles F. Campbell
David Ronald Chandler
Lau Ching Chin
Donald R. Clark
Loreta De-Ann Coffman
Derrick Curry
Velinda Desalus
Jacob Elbaum
Linda Sue Evans
Loretta Sharon Fish
Antoinette M. Frink
David Goldstein
Gerard A. Greenfield
Jodie E. Israel
Kimberly Johnson
Billy Thornton Langston Jr.
Belinda Lynn Lumpkin
Peter MacDonald - President of the Navajo Nation
Kellie Ann Mann
Peter Ninemire
Hugh Ricardo Padmore
Arnold Paul Prosperi
Melvin J. Reynolds - Democratic Congressperson from Illinois - bank fraud; convicted on 12 counts of sexual assault, obstruction of justice and solicitation of child pornography
Pedro Miguel Riveiro
Dorothy Rivers - lead official in Jesse Jackson’s Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, plead guilty to theft of 1.2 million dollars in federal grant money
Susan Rosenberg
Kalmen Stern
Cory Stringfellow
Carlos Anibal Vignali - convicted of cocaine trafficking
Thomas Wilson Waddell III
Harvey Weinig
Kim Allen Willis
Kimba Smith
Antonio Camacho Negron - FALN militant

Pardons

Verla Jean Allen (1990 false statements to an agency of the United States)
Nicholas M. Altiere (1983 importation of cocaine)
Bernice Ruth Altschul (1992 money laundering conspiracy)
Joe Anderson Jr. (1988 income tax evasion)
William Sterling Anderson (1987 defraudment of a financial institution, false statements to a financial institution, wire fraud)
Mansour Azizkhani (1984 false statements in bank loan applications)
Cleveland Victor Babin Jr. (1987 using the U.S. mail service to defraud)
Chris Harmon Bagley (1989 conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine)
Scott Lynn Bane (Unlawful distribution of marijuana)
Thomas Cleveland Barber (Issuing worthless checks)
Peggy Ann Bargon (Violation of the Lacey Act, violation of the Bald Eagle Protection Act)
David Roscoe Blampied (possess with intent to distribute cocaine)
William Arthur Borders Jr. (Conspiracy to corruptly solicit and accept money in return for influencing the official acts of a federal district court judge (Alcee L. Hastings), and to defraud the United States in connection with the performance of lawful government functions; corruptly influencing, obstructing, impeding and endeavoring to influence, obstruct and impede the due administration of justice, and aiding and abetting therein; traveling interstate with intent to commit bribery)
Arthur David Borel (Odometer Rollback)
Douglas Chrles Borel (Odometer Rollback)
George Thomas Brabham (Making a false statement or report to a federally insured bank)
Almon Glenn Braswell (1983 mail fraud and perjury)
Leonard Browder (Illegal dispensing of controlled substance and Medicaid fraud)
David Steven Brown (Securities fraud and mail fraud)
Delores Caroylene Burleson, aka Delores Cox Burleson (Possession of Marijuana)
John H. Bustamante (wire fraud)
Mary Louise Campbell
Eloida Candelaria
Dennis Sobrevinas Capili
Donna Denise Chambers
Douglas Eugene Chapman
Ronald Keith Chapman
Francisco Larois Chavez
Henry Cisneros (former HUD Secretary)
Roger Clinton, Jr. (half-brother of President Bill Clinton)
Stuart Harris Cohn
David Marc Cooper
Ernest Harley Cox Jr.
John F. Cross Jr.
Reickey Lee Cunningham
Richard Anthony De Labio
John Deutch
Richard Douglas
Edward Reynolds Downe
Marvin Dean Dudley
Larry Lee Duncan
Robert Clinton Fain
Marcos Arcenio Fernandez
Alvarez Ferrouillet
William Dennis Fugazy
Lloyd Reid George
Louis Goldstein
Rubye Lee Gordon
Pincus Green
Robert Ivey Hamner
Samuel Price Handley
Woodie Randolph Handley
Jay Houston Harmon
Rick Hendrick
John Hummingson
David S. Herdlinger
Debi Rae Huckleberry
Donald Ray James
Stanley Pruet Jobe
Ruben H. Johnson
Linda Jones
James Howard Lake
June Louise Lewis
Salim Bonnor Lewis
John Leighton Lodwick
Hildebrando Lopez
Jose Julio Luaces
James Timothy Maness
James Lowell Manning, (1982, aiding and assisting in the preparation of a false corporate income tax return)
John Robert Martin
Frank Ayala Martinez
Silvia Leticia Beltran Martinez
John Francis McCormick
Susan H. McDougal
Howard Mechanic
Brook K. Mitchell Sr.
Samuel Loring Morison
Charles Wilfred Morgan III
Richard Anthony Nazzaro
Charlene Ann Nosenko
Vernon Raymond Obermeier
Miguelina Ogalde
David C. Owen
Robert W. Palmer
Kelli Anne Perhosky
Richard H. Pezzopane
Orville Rex Phillips
Vinson Stewart Poling Jr.
Norman Lyle Prouse
Willie H.H. Pruitt Jr.
Danny Martin Pursley Sr.
Charles D. Ravenel
William Clyde Ray
Alfredo Luna Regalado
Ildefonso Reynes Ricafort
Marc Rich - tax evasion fugitive
Howard Winfield Riddle
Richard Wilson Riley Jr.
Samuel Lee Robbins
Joel Gonzales Rodriguez
Michael James Rogers
Anna Louise Ross
Dan Rostenkowski - Former Democratic Congressman convicted in the Congressional Post Office Scandal
Gerald Glen Rust
Jerri Ann Rust
Bettye June Rutherford
Gregory Lee Sands
Adolph Schwimmer
Albert A. Seretti Jr.
Patricia Campbell Hearst Shaw
Dennis Joseph Smith
Gerald Owen Smith
Stephen A. Smith
Jimmie Lee Speake
Charles Bernard Stewart
Marlena Francisca Stewart-Rollins
Fife Symington III - former Arizona governor
Richard Lee Tannehill
Nicholas C. Tenaglia
Gary Allen Thomas
Larry Weldon Todd
Olga C. Trevino
Ignatious Vamvouklis
Patricia A. Van De Weerd
Christopher V. Wade
Bill Wayne Warmath
Jack Kenneth Watson
Donna Lynn Webb
Donald William Wells
Robert H. Wendt
Jack L. Williams
Kavin Arthur Williams
Robert Michael Williams
Jimmie Lee Wilson
Thelma Louise Wingate
Mitchell Couey Wood
Warren Stannard Wood
Dewey Worthey
Rick Allen Yale
Joseph A. Yasak
William Stanley Yingling
Phillip David Young
Keith Sanders
Darren Muci
John Scott (not a full pardon)

What's your point?

 

[shereads]

You must know by now, Zeb dear, that you cannot out-Google me.

Just for you:

The Bush pardons

Now this is Rich: They include a Watergate felon, a Cuban exile terrorist and a Pakistani heroin dealer. But where was the outrage then?

- - - - - - - - - - - -
By Joe Conason

Feb. 27, 2001 | Hearing all the indignant noise about the Clinton pardons, the average citizen might understandably think that the granting of presidential clemency had never been tainted by campaign contributions, political connections or insider access. That mistaken perception, promoted by lazy journalists and partisan pundits, is being exploited by Republicans on Capitol Hill (who are never, ever influenced by rich donors).

The truth -- as anyone who glances back into the history of the first Bush administration can quickly learn -- is that Clinton hasn't done anything that his predecessor didn't do first and, in some cases, worse.


The widely and justly criticized pardons of Caspar Weinberger and other Iran-Contra defendants by George Herbert Walker Bush should have been just the beginning of that story. Yet, for reasons best known to the incorruptible watchdogs of the Washington press corps, Poppy's self-interested mercy upon Weinberger instigated no searching examination of the other pardons granted by the departing president. Indeed, the final dozen pardons given by Bush -- including the unexplained release of a Pakistani heroin trafficker -- received virtually no coverage at all.

The elder Bush delivered a few highly questionable pardons well before his last days in office. The very first of his presidency went to Armand Hammer, the legendary oilman best known for his relationships with Soviet leaders dating back to Lenin. In an investigation that grew out of Watergate, Hammer had pleaded guilty in 1975 to laundering $54,000 in illicit contributions to Nixon's reelection war chest. By the summer of 1989, when Bush gave Hammer what he wanted, the aging chief of Occidental Petroleum had been pestering government officials on his own behalf for several years.

Considering his original offense, it was ironic that Hammer won what he called the "vindication" of a presidential pardon only months after he poured well over $100,000 into Republican Party coffers, and another $100,000 into the accounts of the Bush-Quayle Inaugural committee. (In author Edward Jay Epstein's excellent biography of the oilman, there is a photograph of Hammer, his girlfriend and President Bush together at the White House in April 1990. Such visits were perks for members of Bush's "Team 100," as the GOP's most generous donors were known.)

At the time, Hammer's pardon made news, partly because his request had been turned down by President Reagan several months earlier. But nobody seemed to notice the nexus between the oilman's generosity to Bush and the new president's mercy upon Hammer.

The only hint of Hammer's influence-buying came from former Watergate prosecutor Henry Ruth, who wasn't consulted by the White House before Hammer's pardon was granted. "My view of the pardon process is that it should be given only in extraordinary circumstances, and I haven't heard of any" in Hammer's case, Ruth told the Los Angeles Times. Ruth thought the undeserved favor had been given only because Hammer was "rich" and "powerful."

Another intriguing fact went almost unnoticed back then, too. Hammer's team of attorneys included not only a close friend of Attorney General Richard Thornburgh, but also a very close friend of Bush's new White House counsel C. Boyden Gray, whose job included passing on pardon requests to the president. The Gray pal hired to help Hammer was a former Reagan Justice Department official named Theodore B. Olson. Now that Olson has been nominated as Bush's solicitor general, perhaps he will offer insights on the history of presidential pardons during his confirmation hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Surely Olson would testify that campaign contributions and insider influence should have nothing to do with the process.


An even more dubious case than Hammer's also reached Bush's desk during the first year of his presidency. In 1989, prominent Cuban-Americans in Florida began agitating for the release of Orlando Bosch, a notorious anti-Castro terrorist then serving a prison term for entering the United States illegally. American intelligence and law enforcement authorities firmly believed that Bosch was responsible for far worse actions, including the 1976 explosion that brought down a Cuban airliner, killing all 76 civilians aboard, although Venezuelan prosecutors had failed to convict him of that terrible crime. There was certainly no question that Bosch was an advocate of terror and had been involved in numerous bombings.
The Justice Department wanted to deport Bosch because, according to the FBI, he had "repeatedly expressed and demonstrated a willingness to cause indiscriminate injury and death." Freeing Bosch at a time when Washington was condemning terrorism abroad would obviously be hard to explain -- had someone asked.


But Miami's leading Republican contributors and politicians persistently lobbied Bush to free Bosch, insisting that the former pediatrician was really a noble freedom fighter. And in 1990, when Bosch was eventually released and permitted to reside in Florida under an extraordinary deal with the Bush Justice Department, much of the credit went to the alleged mass murderer's best-connected White House lobbyist -- a budding local politician named Jeb Bush. The Bush son who would be elected governor of Florida eight years later had, by 1990, already become wealthy in real estate and other deals with the same Cuban exile businessmen who wanted Bosch to be freed. Among Jeb's business partners active in the Cuban-American National Foundation, the institutional advocate for Bosch, was one Armando Codina, also a regular GOP donor and activist. (Codina, however, tells Salon that he neither supported the release of Bosch, nor ever lobbied his business partner, Bush, on the issue.) According to the administration's spokesmen, however, all those personal and financial ties were just a set of happy coincidences. Anyway, nobody in the mainstream media or on Capitol Hill got upset because the president's son had opened prison doors for an unrepentant terrorist.

Flash forward to the very end of Poppy's presidency, a few weeks after his Christmas Eve 1992 pardons of Weinberger and the other Iran-Contra defendants. On Jan. 18, 1993, the soon-to-be-former president signed a clemency order freeing Aslam Adam from Butner federal prison in North Carolina. A Pakistani national, Adam had by then served eight years of a 55-year sentence for smuggling $1.5 million worth of heroin into the United States. He wouldn't have been eligible for parole for another two years.

Stunning as the commutation of Adam's sentence was, even more bewildering was the lack of press interest or congressional concern about his case. It was mentioned in a single paragraph on an inside page of the Washington Post; the New York Times didn't cover it at all; and nobody except the Charlotte Observer asked why. There was no further investigation until 1994, when Eric Nadler examined the Adam matter for Rolling Stone. All that Nadler could establish for certain was that Sen. Jesse Helms, R-N.C., a stalwart friend of the Pakistani military regime and its domestic lobbyists, had interceded on Adam's behalf with the Justice Department and prison officials.

It was worth mentioning, of course, that Bush, a former CIA director, may have had his own occult foreign policy or national security reasons for releasing Adam -- but none ever came to light. And no one in Congress or the media ever demanded that Bush explain why he had freed a narcotics trafficker. Adam was sent home to Karachi, where his mother reportedly exclaimed, "God bless Bush! God bless Bush!"

Aside from Weinberger and company, Bush's few pardons attracted little notice, but several of those he gave were as questionable as the most controversial Clinton pardons: a Watergate felon who donated huge amounts of money to the president and hired well-connected GOP lawyers; a Cuban exile terrorist whose case was advocated by the president's son and the son's business partners; and a Pakistani heroin dealer befriended by Jesse Helms.

So if and when Bill Clinton goes up to the Hill to testify on the subject of pardons, then perhaps his predecessor should be invited to discuss the same sore topic. The political influence of money and access is always troubling -- but that influence isn't much different in the pardon process now than when George H.W. Bush exercised those powers. The difference is that today, for reasons that have nothing to do with morality, we are suddenly paying attention.

~ Salon

Nope. Haven't forgotten a thing.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

What's your point?

No point...well maybe one, that both parties are a fraught with corruption in this day and age. Both parties have so removed themselves from the American people as to be unrecognizable to our forefathers.

 

[S-Des]

10 t 15 years?

You meant weeks, right?

Actually, 60 Minutes had a special from Kurdistan and the Kurds are doing very well. Americans are greeted in the streets with smiles and handshakes, there is virtually no violence and their economy is booming. They're quite happy to not be getting murdered by the thousands by Hussein, but unfortunately you don't hear about the happy people...the guys blowing up women & children in markets make better news.