Libby found guilty on four counts

[abcdefz]

He's pretty sure to be incarcerated. Somewhere nice, I'm sure.


From CNN: (http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/03/06/cia.leak/index.html)

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby has been found guilty on four of five counts in his perjury and obstruction of justice trial.

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 him of a second count of making a false statement relating to a conversation he had with Matt Cooper of Time magazine.

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

[QueenAdrock]

I just told my coworkers and one replied "Dude that was out 4 hours ago," to which I replied "HOW COME NO ONE SAID ANYTHING!" :mad: *silence*

Sigh.

[abcdefz]

This is why we're here for you. (y)

[Whatitis]

I'm sure Bush will pardon Libby when he leaves office.

[D_Raay]

They are already starting to parade pundits around on the networks to say that Fitzgerald had no legal basis to even try Libby because there was no underlying crime to base these charges on.

Flying in the face of reality again. I suppose this was all just a grand liberal conspiracy.

[yeahwho]

I'm fairly satisfied with this day, I love how Forbes Tom Raum (http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2007/03/06/ap3490365.html) started out his byline with the breaking news,

Campaigning in 2000, George Bush promised he would swear on the Bible to restore honor and dignity to a sullied White House and give it "one heck of scrubbing." The conviction of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby gave the White House a scrubbing - but not the one Bush had in mind.

The case laid bare the inner workings of a presidency under siege and the secretive world of Vice President Dick Cheney.

It showed the lengths to which Cheney went in early summer 2003 to discredit administration critic Joseph Wilson. The former ambassador's assertions had cast doubt on the administration's justification for having taken the country to war in Iraq. And the Libby case showed the president assisting Cheney in the leaked attacks on Wilson.

Bush will give him nothing but credit.

The Vice President who told Bush in '2000 while on his vice presidential search committee about a good choice for VP "Hey, wait a minute, "How about me?, easiest search ever.

[JobDDT]

I'm sure Bush will pardon Libby when he leaves office.

Quoted for truth.

He will be pardoned either in the very near future or before Bush leaves office.

[QueenAdrock]

Maybe after Bush leaves, but not before then. If they don't want to have a political shitstorm that will result in a Democratic victory, that is. Voters are already disenchanted towards Republican politicians now, a pardon may just seal the deal.

[yeahwho]

I feel there is really no level low enough for this administration to stoop too. They've completely disregarded the voters of the USA and blatantly came up with a $48 billion dollar "Surge Cost Tag (http://economistsview.typepad.com/economistsview/2007/02/how_much_will_t.html)" which is attached to $103 billion Iraq funding measure (http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=agCTxDQ6p4dc&refer=us) in the face of what the majority of Americans feel is a waste of life and capitol...to put it mildly.

Quoted from my above Forbes link.....

The White House has never corrected the denials it issued in the fall of 2003 saying neither Rove nor Libby was involved in the leak of Plame's CIA identity. Political observers doubt any correction will be made.

"What's really focused people's attention is the loss of American troops in Iraq and it's allowed Bush, Cheney and Rove - once he wasn't indicted - to kind of be pushed off the radar screen" regarding the Plame affair, said presidential historian Robert Dallek.

Democrats used the verdicts to attack Cheney. "Lewis Libby has been convicted of perjury, but his trial revealed deeper truths about Vice President Cheney's role in this sordid affair. Now President Bush must pledge not to pardon Libby for his criminal conduct," said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.

On the surface it seems obvious, yet every time one of these obvious stories comes along and exposes the true sleaziness of the Bush administration other less complicated and easier to digest stories take the medias limelight...like Ann Coulter.

I really wish the media would just simplify this story and sum it up in a nutshell with a quick bold headline, Your Being Lied To by your servants.

[Echewta]

We are usually being lied to. Some lie more than others. This particular adminstration does take the cake. As bad as Raygun.

[DroppinScience]

If Libby is pardoned, it's going to be January 20, 2009 at at 11:59 am. It's now become commonplace for the President to pardon his peoples on your last day in office.

I sure hope he isn't.

[Documad]

I believe that Libby had a deal that involves the president pardoning him right before the term ends. That explains Libby keeping quiet and not making Cheney testify.

[Funkaloyd]

Oh god, then we'll see comparisons to Clinton's pardons. I'm gonna go preemptively throw up from exposure to the "two wrongs make a right" fallacy.

[abcdefz]

Maybe after Bush leaves, but not before then. If they don't want to have a political shitstorm that will result in a Democratic victory, that is. Voters are already disenchanted towards Republican politicians now, a pardon may just seal the deal.


Yup. He's either got to do it immediately or wait until he's leaving office. And I think he wants to see if the appeal process can help him keep his hands clean on this one.

[QueenAdrock]

It astounds me. Maybe there's something I'm missing, but I absolutely don't get it. Supporters of Libby are calling for a pardon based on the fact that THEY think he's innocent/are friends with him. So apparently, for some reason, they think that the judicial system doesn't apply to him WHY? I'm sure there's lots of verdicts that I wouldn't agree with, but that's why we have an impartial jury system set up - someone who can step back and without prior emotion, come to a conclusion and come up with subsequent punishments if they are found guilty. It happens for everyone in the world, so why the FUCK would Libby not have this applied to him?

"Our number one goal is to see Scooter's conviction wiped out by the courts and see him vindicated," attorney William Jeffress Jr. said in an interview. "Now, I've seen all the calls for a pardon. And I agree with them. To me, he should have been pardoned six months ago or a year ago."

Based on what? Pardoned based on WHAT! Your friendship? How you're allies with him? How you're working for him? I believe that in order to have something wiped clean, you have to show that you've either a) not done it or b) shown your changed ways. Since he has not done either, this is total bullshit. There is no reason for a pardon, other than the fact that he's got friends in high places. They went after Clinton like sharks when it came to him getting a blowjob and lying to the public about his personal life, but when it comes to a man who sold out one of our own American operatives for political gain, well, we demand a pardon!

I believe Libby committed treason against our country. To give up a name of a CIA operative working for the United States undercover, is treason. What happened was done to her was absolutely despicable, especially when one considers it was done for political purposes. She could have been fucking killed, one of our own, working for us, a true-blue patriotic American who happened to be married to someone who disagreed with Bush. This whole thing is making my head swim, and making me sick to my stomach. The idea that "We love our country sooo much. Oh, unless you say something bad about us, then we're willing to sell out our own in a heartbeat."

Fucking throw him in the slammer for the full 25 years and make him rot, he's deserved it.
</endrant>

[abcdefz]

Yeah, I don't think he should be pardoned; I hope you don't take it that way. I think that Republicans are team players in a way that Democrats aren't quite so much, and that's probably the basis of the "let's pardon him" sentiment: Libby took one for the team, leaving Cheney out of it.

President Clinton fucked up in a big way by pardoning that ex-patriot who cheated on his taxes, though. That was truly fucked up.

[QueenAdrock]

Ha, that wasn't directed at anyone, A-Z. I just read a Washington Post article talking about how some are demanding a pardon, and my blood boiled to the point of overflow. :p

Luckily, Bush said he's going to stay out of it. (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/07/AR2007030700184.html) We'll see, he's still got another 22 months left, right?

[abcdefz]

Luckily, Bush said he's going to stay out of it. (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/07/AR2007030700184.html) We'll see, he's still got another 22 months left, right?




Yeah -- like I aid, President Bush will take a wait-and-see while the appeals drag on, hoping that the judgment is overturned. If it's not by the time he's leaving office, yeah, he'll get pardoned.

[D_Raay]

What was it they trumpeted during Clinton? "The rule of law", wasn't it?

[Carlos]

Nice of him to offer to be the fall guy... :rolleyes:

I mean how naive do you have to be to think that he was 'on his own' in the cover up, and leaking. The bush/cheney inner sanctum are past masters of lying and covering up the truth - if they can lie through their teeth about sending over 3000 of your brave troops to their death, why do some of you find it so hard to accept they did with 911 too?

They didn't want an investigation to start with - had to literally be forced by greiving relatives, and all the evidence shows they only submitted evidence from the 911 comission that didn't point the finger at anyone other than Osama: Minetta's testimony - cheney was warned when flight 77 was 50 miles out from pentagon(this after 2 building have been struct and collapsed by two passenger planes), then at 30, and at 10 miles Minetta asked him if the "order still stands", only one possible thing that order could have been: do nothing. This alone is enough to put cheney in prison - but no, it was omitted from the final report for some unexplained reason.

[yeahwho]

Valerie Plame has her day of testimony. It leaves little doubt in the babbling moronic speaking points of political hacks who continue to say Valerie Plame was not covert.

Valerie Plame was Covert, here is her testimony on video (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/taylor-marsh/valerie-plame-was-covert_b_43599.html).

Somehow two people managed to get in the chambers with anti Bush gear, one wearing an "Impeach Bush" blouse and another with a sign.

[D_Raay]

Valerie Plame has her day of testimony. It leaves little doubt in the babbling moronic speaking points of political hacks who continue to say Valerie Plame was not covert.

Valerie Plame was Covert, here is her testimony on video (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/taylor-marsh/valerie-plame-was-covert_b_43599.html).

Somehow two people managed to get in the chambers with anti Bush gear, one wearing an "Impeach Bush" blouse and another with a sign.
I am still amazed no one is being held accountable for this whole Plame outing.

Am I wrong here or was this one of the most dangerous and reckless things any administration could do? It's tantamount to treason, it compromised national security, put other people's lives in danger-to say nothing of completely destroying an innocent woman's career.

How many more scandals can we possibly absorb before this administration is driven out?

[DroppinScience]

This may sound dumb (but there are no dumb questions, right?), but why do we grant pardons, exactly? What's it supposed to mean?

On "24," they'll pardon a criminal in exchange for them helping to stop a bigger criminal/prevent whatever crisis they're trying to avert. That's my only real exposure to the whole pardoning process. :p

[saz]

I believe that Libby had a deal that involves the president pardoning him right before the term ends. That explains Libby keeping quiet and not making Cheney testify.

libby's defence was that he was the fall guy, and that there were bigger fish to fry, ie rove, cheney, fleischer, armitage etc. and jury members addressed this after the trial. after his conviction, libby's wife, harriet grant, was overheard saying that "we're gonna fuck 'em" (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/06/AR2007030601998.html). what i want to know is, who is 'em? the jury? patrick fitzgerald? the judge? or how about rove, cheney, bush, and armitage?

and you gotta love it how bush, cheney etc. are all so sorry for libby, saying what a good guy he is and what not. meanwhile, no one has apologized to valerie plame, for being outed, being in danger, and losing her career. nor has anyone apologized to the other cia operatives whose cover was blown, who worked with valerie plame at brewster jennings & associates.

[Schmeltz]

to say nothing of completely destroying an innocent woman's career.

Oh, I don't know about that. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valerie_Plame#.22Book_Deal.22_for_Valerie_Wilson.2 7s_memoir.2C_.22Fair_Game.22)

Naturally it's reprehensible for this administration to have undermined one of their own intelligence agencies in the name of petty political disputation. But given the equally reprehensible activities engaged in by said intelligence agency around the world for decades, which have cost many thousands of people much more than a career in diplomacy, I find it tough to view the CIA or its operatives with any sympathy. Even if Valerie Plame is pretty foxy for an older woman and I bet she was a total babe when she was younger.

[DroppinScience]

Valeie Plame IS hot, and she's still a babe today.

http://www.bartcop.com/valerie_plame_book.jpg

[QueenAdrock]

If I had a dick, I'd stick it in her.

[yeahwho]

This is an interesting eye opening article on the reasoning behind the outing of Valerie Plame, I felt that it was always retaliation for her husbands July 6 2003 NYTimes Ed/Op piece What I Didn't Find in Africa (http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/06/opinion/06WILS.html?ex=1372824000&en=6c6aeb1ce960dec0&ei=5007&partner=USERLAND), but perhaps it was more than just that which motivated this administrations carelessness. The perjury and obstruction trial of Libby, convicted on four of five counts, has demonstrated that tense colloquies about Mrs. Wilson took place at least a dozen times by this administration substantially before Wilson’s column came out:

From this interesting commentary by Margie Burns of the Baltimore Chronicle
(http://baltimorechronicle.com/2007/031207BURNS.shtml)
Did the administration simply launch a pre-emptive strike against Wilson, fearing that his going public on the “mushroom cloud” would be the last straw? With its usual tin ear, did it fear that Joe Wilson and Seymour Hersh would join forces? Or did it go for a two-fer, moving to disrupt analysis in the WMD unit at the CIA where Mrs. Wilson worked?

[D_Raay]

Oh, I don't know about that. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valerie_Plame#.22Book_Deal.22_for_Valerie_Wilson.2 7s_memoir.2C_.22Fair_Game.22)

Naturally it's reprehensible for this administration to have undermined one of their own intelligence agencies in the name of petty political disputation. But given the equally reprehensible activities engaged in by said intelligence agency around the world for decades, which have cost many thousands of people much more than a career in diplomacy, I find it tough to view the CIA or its operatives with any sympathy. Even if Valerie Plame is pretty foxy for an older woman and I bet she was a total babe when she was younger.
Yes , point taken. You are probably right too, for she probably will be even more successful now, at least in the short term, than she was before.

I know it sounds a bit hokey but, what if she really loved what she did for a living (despite the obvious ties to the agency you mentioned that are less than palatable)?

What of all the agents that were forced to abandon any future "undercover" operations? Did any of them actually have their lives endangered?
Despite the nature of their collective professions, can we really abide such reckless behaviour?

[Ali]

If I had a dick, I'd stick it in her.
Can I use that for my sig?

Hey. If Libby is guilty, then his boss is guilty, and so is HIS boss.

So, who's gonna pardon HIM? Hillary?