Bush just, freed Scooter Libby from jail by exercising a Presidential pardon. This is an abuse of power that should anger Americans to the point of impeachment. Unfortunately, this generation of Americans is plagued with historically low expectations, and our children are paying for this with their lives.
President Roosevelt said that our Grandparents generation had a "rendezvous with destiny." Our parents generation also had high standards. Nixon secretly spied on political rivals and ordinary citizens, and our parents protested this overstepping of authority and forced him to resign.
This President Bush has openly spied on American citizens. His administration has openly lied to us and to grand juries, but we don't force his resignation. We allow him to pardon low level liars, in a pathetic and probably successful attempt to protect higher level liars. Our parents would have protested this abuse of power. This generation is too busy worrying about whether Paris Hilton serves 30 days for a DUI to worry about whether Dick Cheney is held accountable.
Our children are paying for these decisions with their lives. The reason we do not blow the cover of our spys is that we need them to provide life saving information. They identify our enemies, what they are planning, and how we can stop them before they can hurt us. Spies prevent wars and help us win wars quickly. Valerie Plame's cover was blown to prevent her and her husband from providing information that would have avoided the Iraq War.
Scooter, and the people for whom he is covering are guilty of treason. Blowing the cover of a member of the CIA is serious. The NOC lists Tom Cruise risked his life to protect in Mission Impossible, were the list of "non-official cover" agents like Valerie Plame's.
Bush's actions are obstructing justice. Scooter blew the cover of a US spy, endangering all of us and ruining a patriot's career. Then perjured himself by lying about it. He was found guilty of this by a jury of his peers. He was sentenced by a Republican judge. It is likely that he would have implicated other members of the Bush White House to save himself from jail. He was pardoned before this was an issue.
Scooter and those he is covering do not deserve jail. They deserve a firing squad. This is the penalty for treason, and anyone who touts the rule of law should expect nothing less.
Interesting notes:
In 1991, the Bush's father said, "I don't care how long I live, I will never forgive Philip Agee and those like him who wantonly sacrifice the lives of intelligence officers who loyally serve their country." As CIA director and subsequently as VP, Bush's father was instrumental in making the practice of "naming names" illegal. That law is called the Intelligence Identity Protection Act.
I'll leave you with a quote from George Bush, himself:
"If there's a leak out of my administration I want to know who it is, and if the person has violated the law that person will be taken care of."
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