Here Today... Gone To Hell!

Libby has gone down. The prosecution's case tore him apart. We can thank the new stoolie, Bush's old mouthpiece Ari Fleischer, who put the rat on him.

The next thing we are going to see is congressional investigations on the Niger yellowcake claim, a treasonous, vicious lie used to justify the mass murder of hundreds of thousands of Iraqi nationals by neo-con fascists.

It is about fucking time.

Libby found guilty in CIA leak trial



By MICHAEL J. SNIFFEN and MATT APUZZO, Associated Press Writers 11 minutes ago



Once the closest adviser to Vice President Dick Cheney, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby was convicted Tuesday of lying and obstructing a leak investigation that shook the top levels of the Bush administration.

Four guilty verdicts ended a seven-week CIA leak trial that focused new attention on the Bush administration's much-criticized handling of intelligence reports about weapons of mass destruction in the run-up to the
Iraq war.

In the end, jurors said they did not believe Libby's main defense: that he hadn't lied but merely had a bad memory.

Their decisions made Libby the highest-ranking White House official convicted in a government scandal since National Security Adviser John Poindexter in the Iran-Contra affair two decades ago.

The case cost Cheney his most trusted adviser, and the trial revealed Cheney's personal obsession with criticism of the war's justification.

Trial testimony made clear that President Bush secretly declassified a portion of the prewar intelligence estimate that Cheney quietly sent Libby to leak to Judith Miller of The New York Times in 2003 to rebut criticism by ex-ambassador Joseph Wilson. Bush, Cheney and Libby were the only three people in the government aware of the effort.

More top reporters were ordered into court ? including Miller after 85 days of resistance in jail ? to testify about their confidential sources among the nation's highest-ranking officials than in any other trial in recent memory.

Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald said the verdict closed the nearly four-year investigation into how the name of Wilson's wife, Valerie Plame, and her classified job at the CIA were leaked to reporters in 2003 ? just days after Wilson publicly accused the administration of doctoring prewar intelligence. No one will be charged with the leak itself, which the trial confirmed came first from then-Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage.

"The results are actually sad," Fitzgerald told reporters after the verdict. "It's sad that we had a situation where a high-level official person who worked in the office of the vice president obstructed justice and lied under oath. We wish that it had not happened, but it did."

One juror, former Washington Post reporter Denis Collins, said the jury did not believe Libby's main defense: that he never lied but just had a faulty memory. Juror Jeff Comer agreed.

Collins said the jurors spent a week charting the testimony and evidence on 34 poster-size pages. "There were good managerial type people on this jury who took everything apart and put it in the right place," Collins said. "After that, it wasn't a matter of opinion. It was just there."

Libby, not only Cheney's chief of staff but also an assistant to Bush, was expressionless as the verdict was announced on the 10th day of deliberations. In the front row, his wife, Harriet Grant, choked out a sob and her head sank.

Libby could face up to 25 years in prison when sentenced June 5, but federal sentencing guidelines will probably prescribe far less, perhaps one to three years. Defense attorneys said they would ask for a retrial and if that fails, appeal the conviction.

"We have every confidence Mr. Libby ultimately will be vindicated," defense attorney Theodore Wells told reporters. He said that Libby was "totally innocent and that he did not do anything wrong."

Libby did not speak to reporters.

More (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070307/ap_on_go_pr_wh/cia_leak_trial)

This should/could have gone higher up the food chain.  No way Cheney is 100% innocent here.

There are sooooo many things since Bush got elected that could/should be investigated, I just hope I'm still alive for when most of the investigations are complete.....

The questions the conservatives on this forum need to answer is this: if Libby, one of the key architects of the Iraqi War propaganda rationales lied here, why would one think that he and his boss Cheney were not lying about everything?

From the obvious answer to that, the next logical conclusion is that the justifications for the War in Iraq were fabricated in order to con this country and its Congress into a war. Which brings up another interesting question: can the President pardon someone who is part of the same criminal conspiracy the President himself is a party too? Did the Founders intend that the President could use pardons to further his own lawlessness?

Great questions - would love to hear our friends from the right answer them.  I bet they won't.  They really can't! haha

whats astounding is how quiet the american public is regarding this case.  its as if nobody really cares or even knows about it.  People should be screaming by the hundreds of thousands outside the white house.....

Yea, did you hear about Anna Nichole Smith.........

no, to busy reading about Britney shaving her head!!!!!  At least there are SOME stories about DC making the media, like that whore from american idol posing in a wet t-shirt in the WW2 memorial!   :'(

This is the biggest story of the year, why isn't the "liberal" media all over it?

Well, it was all over the news all day, here in wonderfully flat Central Illinois.  I generally watch MSNBC, and it got full day coverage (till I stopped watching, after which I can't give a testimonial, though I doubt that Matthews and Olbermann would neglect it...in fact, I think Valerie Plame was supposed to be on Countdown).

Anyway, there are bigger fish to fry, not that they'll be really touched at all.  Though if the Dems go after Cheney, he'll probably have his final heart attack. 

because this clearly isnt the biggest story of the year...it should be...but most people could care less...and the media is liberal..i work in it...i would say its probably 75-80 percent liberal...at least the people who work in the media are...but that doenst matter...if they are giving fair analysis of stories which I would say MOST (not all) but most of them do...it doesnt matter what their party affiliation is.....as far as the Libby thing...if he lied he should go down..if later down the line it turns out that Cheney or Bush lied they should go down as well...I have been a supporter of the Iraq war since it started in 03 based on the information that was given to me by them...if it turns out they fabricated anything I will have no choice but to turn my back on them...I know they were WRONG about the weapons...but that doesnt mean they LIED...although it is very possible...I know liberals will rejoice if it turns out that Bush or Cheney did lie...but they shouldnt...they should be terrified....alot of democrats and republicans are working together behind the scenes and are part of the same orgainzations...this is something I stress on this board all the time but no one seems to listen...they will either fight for their conservative or liberal beliefs.as if one party is really more honest than the other...Washington is a very dirty place...this situation is really bad for all of us....

man and i thought we had shitty politicians ...
i still dont understand how do you cope with these people

in France, there are the extremes (right, left, racists) parties that attract the people that are fed up with all the bullshit the "big" parties babble.

What happens in the USA ? To whom do fed-up people give their votes to show how tired they are of the bullshit ? (we call it protest/objection vote)

because what i see is that, if people are sick of G Bush, they will vote for the democrats, then they are sick of the democrats and they vote for republicans ... any other choice? could any "independant" party benefit from all the mess ?

Such is the life of the fall guy.

french often called pussies, i feel  though when it comes to fighting for there rights they have the most balls...

i have to say that i dont condone voting for extremist parties.

i was just asking where do the votes of the people who are tired of this bullshit go?
i mean, this whole admnistration is blatently liars, crooks and incompetents ....

mrlee: great comment about french pussies, always good to show how smart you are ...

A few go to 'that third candidate', but most don't go anywhere at all. Either you vote for the 2 or you don't vote at all. The media is very good at making people forget all the bad things that has happened when election month arrives.

And this case is laughable. Another fall guy to take the heat and everyone goes back to thinking everythings ok when the real criminal is sitting comfortably in the White House planning new schemes.

People never learn.

Fox news have the best sources

(http://img68.imageshack.us/img68/1963/2001883825464813443rsqh8.jpg)

Interesting that Libby was also representing Marc Rich who were under investigation for tax evasion, racketeering and violation of the Iran trade embargo. One of Clintons last acts as president was to pardon him.

Then he goes to work for the White House and gets involved in blowing the cover of an agent responsible for investigating the trade and production of WMDs. Not to mention that her husband was a critic of the administration.

There's clearly a story here, one that involves the absolute top of the government.

Bush is just going to wait until the '08 elections are over and then pardon him.

Trial testimony made clear that President Bush secretly declassified a portion of the prewar intelligence estimate that Cheney quietly sent Libby to leak to Judith Miller of The New York Times in 2003 to rebut criticism by ex-ambassador Joseph Wilson. Bush, Cheney and Libby were the only three people in the government aware of the effort.

That sounds pretty serious.  Is that an impeachable offense?

One of many.  honestly, at first i thought the dems were smart for saying they weren't going to try to impeach, but now i wish they'd grow some balls and take a stand.

It's a very impeachable offense. If it were a citizen he'd be rotting in San Quintin as we speak.

But hey, if they can get away with false wars, rigged elections, illegal arrests and failing to act on a terror attack I guess there's not much we can do.

I am assuming that they are getting ready for the indictment to come from Sandy Berger's false statements regarding his removal of classified documents. 

The story has been all over the news.  Maybe you should change the channel from Al Jazeera.

BLAME CLINTON!!!

hahah this is one of the biggest joke posts I've read all year. 

Even assuming this was clear from the testimony, what is the problem with this paragraph?? Is the government not allowed to declasify intelligence in order rebut criticism that it believes is unfounded?? How the heck is that impeachable?

The post was a sacrcastic response to the ridiculous post.?

kinda like starting a war for no reason and letting the defeceit get to record highs???

too bad it wasn't my post though.....and no offense, but i don't think you were being sarcastic  : ok:

What a witty comeback!

it was a sarcastic response to your ridiculous post.

you seem to be more concerned with how stories are written by the AP than you are by what your government is doing behind closed doors.  I think your priorities are seriously messsed up dude.

No offense taken. ?No offense, but I don't think you understand the meaning of the word "sarcastic."

He gave some false statements.  He should be prosecuted for it just like Clinton and others should.  The only problem I have is that people extrapolate from his false statements to indict people where there is no evidence of wrongdoing.  I have a problem with that more.  I hate the politics that are involved in these things from both sides.  I am simply tired and worn out from it.

First of all, there's no need to assume anything. ?Bush admitted to declassifying the prewar intelligence regarding WMDs in Iraq, he just denies that the information he declassified included Valerie Plame's identity.

At a minimum, it was a blatant misinformation campaign. ?U.S. intelligence at the time bolstered the position that the Iraq WMD claim was not supported by evidence. But the information that the White House selectively released (which was proved to be false) supported the administration's stance.

There are a few basic responses:

1.) Unlike France, we don't have "rounds" in our Presidential election.  So, you can't cast a protest vote in round 1, and then a major party vote in round 2.  Many feel that casting their vote for a third party is "wasting" a vote.  Some will point to Nader voters in 2000, and ask "Did those votes allow Bush to win?"  In politics, any government seat that is decided by majoritarian rules (winner-take-all) usually comes back to a two party system.  In some places, the UK for example, the two parties that dominate given districts tends to vary by region.  So, it APPEARS that the UK has a multi-party system, when in fact there are usually two parties that are truly competitive for each seat.  Places where the Tories, for example, do poorly, are contested more hotly by Labour and Liberal.  In Scotland, the SNP and Labour tend to dominate...and so on.  In the US, though, two parties have managed to get their greasy hands on the whole map.

2.) We're ALL tired of the bullshit...but apparently we have short memories.  So, every so often we stop voting for a party that has proved inept and corrupt, and vote for another party that has proved to be inept and corrupt, but probably hasn't been as inept or corrupt, recently.  Then, when that goes bad, we switch back again. 

3.) I wouldn't call our three most important third parties (The Green, Libertarian, and Reform parties) "extremist" parties, so it has little to do with that.  Parties that are based on racism, for some reason, do much better in Europe, despite the fact that the US has a very racist past (and some would argue a somewhat racist present).     

i believe they are talking about the one out of 5 things Libby was actually Not Guilty on...but still that headline on the screen is very misleading...should have said something like "libby found guilty on 4 out of 5"  or something like that....

Our ''liberal media'' are, the Independent ran it front cover.   : ok:

My post was more of a slam against our joke of a media who have been obsessed with Ann Nichole, before anything else. I  wrote it poorly.

Anybody take a stab at Gekko's question yet?

The founders principles are all but a memory at this point, and has been for a long long time.

There can be little doubt among intelligent people that this administration is nothing but a bunch of criminals with the law in their hands (sometimes not even that) looking to further their own agenda. The question is what can we do about it? Next to little it seems. A revolution seems the only viable option left, but the medias firm grip has prevented the public from accepting such steps, yet.

There may be other instances of lies.  However, one lie by one person in one circumstance does not mean that other people lied about unrelated matters.  Your illogic an be used to prove anything against anyone.

That is an absurd and huge leap from the statements above.

This begs the question as to which law exactly you believe the President violated?