It's time for honesty and straightforwardness

[struggle4progress]

DAVID McNEELY
The Edmond Sun

<snip> Several government officials and a substantial number of right wing pundits have declared that Fitzgerald has brought indictments for “technicalities,” in an apparent attempt to obscure the fact that the “technicalities” are themselves very serious crimes, crimes punishable, as they should be if proven, by long prison terms. Libby is not accused of minor malfeasance. Fitzgerald made that clear in his public statement. All legal practitioners and observers know that when an indictment is presented, a more easily proven charge frequently stands in for a more difficult to prove but nonetheless real underlying transgression. That doesn’t mean the more difficult to prove crime didn’t occur, it simply means that if the perpetrator can be convicted on a related charge, justice will be served. Al Capone wreaked murder, bribery, conspiracy, smuggling, bootlegging, prostitution, racketeering, and numerous other crimes on the nation in the 1920s. He was charged, convicted, and served prison time “only” for tax evasion. <snip>

No one needs refreshing on the history involved. Briefly put, Cheney and company cooked up a scheme to do harm to Valerie Plame, the agent in question, because her husband, a former ambassador to Iraq, argued publicly that the Bush administration was going to war on the basis of false claims about Iraq’s nuclear capability and intentions. Cheney himself was not indicted because he and the other principals have security clearances that would allow their discussion of CIA activities. But Libby and fellow conspirator Rove put the information out to reporters, and Libby at least then concocted a story claiming to have learned of the agent’s identity from reporters. Rove also made that claim, but so far has not been indicted for reasons that may have to do with technicalities his lawyers made known to Fitzgerald.

This matter goes to the heart of the lack of integrity and honesty of the Bush administration, and the depths to which its highest officials will sink for political purposes. Revenge and making an opponent look bad were the only motives. The country was harmed in that it lost a career undercover agent, and potentially her safety and that of her fellow CIA workers were threatened. That threat carries with it a threat to the safety of the country. If our agents cannot be secure in their secret identities, then they cannot be secure in their work, and they cannot deliver what the country needs.

Bush and Cheney have obligations to make sure that those working under them offer the highest order of service to the country. Bush initially, when this matter was first made public, offered the assurance that anyone in his administration who was involved with leaking the name of a secret agent would be fired. Later that morphed to “found guilty.” On Friday, he and Cheney both offered their apologies, not to the country for the mistakes they made, but to Libby for his getting caught. They both praised him as a supposed dedicated public servant. Is he guilty? The courts will decide. Is Bush guilty? Only if being dishonest with the public is a crime. Is it? Is impeachment the proper legal action in that case?

http://www.edmondsun.com/cnhi/edmondsun/opinion/local_story_306150520.html?keyword=secondarystory