DETROIT -- All the media frenzy about pardoning Scooter Libby is missing a broader issue. Many others in the Bush administration are in need of pardons, and for far more serious crimes. They'll get pardons or head to Canada begging for asylum.
Scooter was caught lying and obstructing justice to protect his boss, Vice President Dick Cheney. It's as simple as that. Cheney ordered the hit on former ambassador Joe Wilson because he dared to speak the truth about the lies used to sell the war in Iraq.
For a political thug like Cheney, Libby taking the fall for him is business as usual. Libby will never spend a single night in prison because President George W. Bush will pardon him right after his sentencing.
There will be howls that the move is aimed at buying Libby's continued silence, but frankly, folks, Bush doesn't give a damn. His failed presidency cannot lose any more support.
The partisans and fools sticking with him -- about 30 percent of the nation -- represent a base that reason and reality will never budge. Forget about them. They are lost political souls, civic lepers condemned forever to dwell in the limbo of lies Bush has wrought.
Cheney has repeatedly abused the power of his office, claiming nonexistent authority and trampling on the Constitution. His serial lies in the runup to the invasion of Iraq merit impeachment and criminal charges. He is a war criminal.
Bush may be thinking of pardoning the vice president guilty of more crimes than his murderous, treasonous predecessor Aaron Burr. Cheney's fragile health would be Bush's justification for pardoning his veep on his last day in office, a consummation devotedly to be wished.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has committed perjury before Congress more times than we can count, most recently when she said she swore she had never heard of Iran's 2003 peace initiative. As the national security adviser, she presided over a campaign of deception, convincing the Congress and the American people that attacking Iraq would make our nation more secure.
Rice has also abused the powers of her office. She, too, is a war criminal. Those knaves who think she will someday run for high public office will be disappointed. When the truth of her duplicity and deceptions are broadly known, she couldn't be elected a dogcatcher in Alabama, her home state. She will retire from public life, making a fortune spinning more lies in her memoirs and sitting on the boards of big oil companies. Giving her a pardon will allow her to rest comfortably in her post-Bush life.
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is another serial felon. From his days as White House counsel, when he set up the framework for the abuses and torture at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq and the concentration camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to the warrantless surveillance of millions of Americans, he has built a rap sheet that would make a Mafia don blush.
As attorney general, he has ordered the firings of U.S. Attorneys for political purposes and then lied to Congress about his dirty deeds. He has allowed the FBI to go crazy, even beyond the authoritarian provisions of the Stalin Law, aka the USA Patriot Act.
The independent inspector general of the Justice Department found rampant abuses by FBI agents gathering information about people and businesses. The New York Times describes the inspector general's report finding "many instances in which national security letters, which allow the bureau to obtain records from telephone companies, Internet service providers, banks, credit companies and other businesses without a judge's approval, were improperly, and sometimes illegally used."
The FBI's record-keeping was "so slipshod," the report noted, that the number of national security letters the bureau secured was often underreported to Congress.
FBI director Robert Mueller declared, "I am to be held accountable." If that were the case, he would be sacked immediately.
The latest Bushevik mantra is to proclaim accountability and responsibility, and then go on with business as usual. Does anyone really think the FBI agents who broke the law did so without their bosses knowing about it? How many heads will roll? Not one.
Gonzales, the nation's top lawman, has presided over this lawlessness. He should be fired or impeached. He should be disbarred. Does not one legal association in this nation have the guts to make that move? Instead, he'll get a pardon.
But what about the lower echelons, the small-fry crooks in the Bush administration? What will happen to them when the emperor retreats to Texas to rot in the sun? Bush won't bother to pardon them all, leaving many to face charges of treason, a capital offense.
For those fearing prosecution, one option is to head to Canada. They should know the Canadians will not extradite anyone subject to the barbaric death penalty Americans continue to worship. War criminals will rejoice. And they might even enjoy their exile.
A new survey for the British Broadcasting Corp. polled people from 27 countries around the world to see what nation they felt had the most positive image. The winner -- O Canada! Well deserved. Bravo.
The poll asked people to rate 12 countries as having a positive or negative influence on the world. The nominees according to an Associated Press report were Britain, Canada, China, France, India, Iran, Israel, Japan, North Korea, Russia, the United States and Venezuela.
And who's at the bottom of the heap in this league of influential nations? Israel, Iran and the United States -- in that order. The fact that two of the three are ostensible democracies should make thinking people worry. Steven Kull from the University of Maryland's Program on International Policy, which conducted the research along with the pollster GlobeScan, told the AP, "It appears that people around the world tend to look negatively on countries whose profile is marked by the pursuit of military power."
There may be some truth in that, but let's go beyond. It's easy to lump the United States and Israel together in the madness playing out in the Middle East since the policies of the governments are now, in many ways, indistinguishable.
Israel, the United States and Iran share the distinction of having fanatical religious and ideological fringes exercising controlling influence over public policy. The people in power look to the fanatics for essential support.
The loathed nations also find international law restraining and United Nations resolutions only useful when applied to others, not them. The top negative nations are prone to unilateralism, arrogance and bullying, always in the name of national security.
Canadians still cling to the quaint notion that the law, human rights, decency and tolerance have a place in a free society. In Canada, the mainstream media actually question and challenge the government. Imagine that.
The CBC's "The Fifth Estate" is what television magazine shows should be. Think of "60 Minutes" before the tobacco companies, corporations and the Bush administration neutered the program. Last week, "The Fifth Estate" did a piece about the Bush administration's deceptions used to set up a war with Iraq.
The information is well known to people with open eyes, but the writing and production are superb, making the program a must-see. Reporter Bob McKeown and producers Morris Karp and Gil Shochat and the whole crew at "The Fifth Estate" created a masterpiece. So good, most Americans, except the blessed few living on the Canadian border, will never see it.
It is one of the most compelling and concise presentations ever shown on how the United States got into this horrible mess. Please, someone put it on the air in the United States. Local cable outlets, listen up! I urge every high-school history and civics teacher: Show it to your class, if you dare. It is online at www.cbc.ca/fifth.
It exposes the greatest lies of our times. It's indisputable to say Lyndon Johnson lied and deceived the American people about the Vietnam War, Richard Nixon lied and covered up Watergate, and Bill Clinton lied about Monica Lewinsky. "The Fifth Estate" rightly places Bush's reasons for war in Iraq in that same pantheon of presidential deceptions.
The "Hail, Caesar" chorus at the FOX News Channel will brand the program subversive and call for lining the Appian Way with crucified CBC staffers. CBS, NBC, ABC, CNN and MSNBC wouldn't dare touch the Canadian program. Too controversial, too inflammatory, the executives would declare. The CBC uses words we dare not speak.
The title of the program: "The Lies that Led to War -- The Political, Diplomatic and Media Spin that Convinced Americans to Invade Iraq." Pardon me, but freely examining such truth makes the world look so positively toward Canada and so negatively toward a Bush-stained America.
| Niagara Falls Reporter | www.niagarafallsreporter.com | March 13 2007 |