Treason is As Treason Does - by: Larry C Johnson

[kpete]

Treason is As Treason Does
by
Larry C Johnson

As we move inexorably to June 5, the date that Scooter Libby is scheduled to be sentenced for four counts of perjury and obstruction of justice, his supporters are stepping up their clamor for the President to do the right thing, as former Ambassador Richard Carlson (Tucker’s father) recently said (which by the way is code for "Presidential pardon"). I expect that others will jump on the bandwagon in the days to come, much as Victoria Toensing and others did in trying to sway the jury during the trial with their articles in the Washington Post.

But, the right thing for partisan Republicans is not the right thing that serves the cause of justice in America and safeguards our nation's security. Prosecutor Pat Fitzgerald knows what is right and lays out the government's case for three years imprisonment in his pre-sentencing memorandum released yesterday. But beyond what Fitz says in considering that "right thing" we should ask ourselves the following questions:

If a senior government official were to take two hours of his busy day to meet with the Russian military attaché at an expensive Washington hotel for the purpose of disclosing the identity of a covert CIA officer, what would you call that?

And if a senior government official were to either convoke the Chinese political officer to a meeting in his office, or call him on the phone to out a CIA officer, what would you call it?

Treason is treason, even when it refers to the actions of U.S. Government officials, who freely discussed the name of a covert CIA officer--Valerie Plame--as part of an organized campaign to smear her husband--Ambassador Joseph Wilson, who became the scapegoat for having the courage to speak the truth.

......................

The betrayal of Valerie’s covert identity by Libby, Rove and Armitage, and the involvement of Cheney was an act of treason, make no mistake about it, and should be seen as such. There are no mitigating factors that justify their actions. Quite apart from the fact that the President and the Vice President were direct supervisors of Libby and, by any commonly accepted ethical standard, should recuse themselves from the pardon process because of an inherent conflict of interest, a Presidential pardon of a convicted perjurer would condone his act of treason.


more at:
http://noquarter.typepad.com/my_weblog/2007/05/treason_is_as_t.html

[Fresh_Start]

1. Can the judge consider the context of the crime

that is the treasonable aspect when he's sentencing or must he be limited to the specific guilty charges?

[seemslikeadream]

2. Treason is TREASON

[DemReadingDU]

3. morning kick

[malaise]

4. Treason is treason

Lock him up and then start the impeachment proceedings for Bush and Cheney.

[mod mom]

5. This worries me about Judge Walton:

Walton has been on the U.S. District Court in Washington since he was appointed by President Bush in 2001.

He was catapulted into the limelight by the high-profile trial of Libby, convicted of lying to the FBI and a grand jury about the administration's leak of the identity of a covert CIA agent, Valerie Plame.

But it was not the first time he had been in the news.

-snip

Earlier last year FBI whistle-blower Sibel Edmonds unsuccessfully tried to get Walton to recuse himself from her case, arguing his decision to keep federally required financial disclosure information private created the appearance of a conflict of interest.

-snip
http://www.upi.com/Security_Terrorism/Briefing/2007/05/24/libby_trial_judge_joins_secret_fisa_court/9180/

AND

CIA leak judge appointed to FISA court

Reggie Walton, the federal judge who heard the CIA leak case, has been appointed to the Foreign Inteligence Surveillance Court, according to a report in Secrecy News, a newsletter from the project on government secrecy at the Federation of Atomic Scientists.
Posted by Mike Carney at 12:21 PM/ET, May 24, 2007 in Washington

http://blogs.usatoday.com/ondeadline/2007/05/cia_leak_judge_.html

[Toots]

6. Doesn't matter because "The votes aren't there"

Anyone else as sick of those words as I am? How can anyone ever be held accountable for anything if all we ever hear is "The votes aren't there"? Subpoenas not enforced because "The votes aren't there". I would be shocked if Libby has to spend even a day behind bars because as we all know "The votes aren't there".