Posted on 02/22/2007 2:54:54 AM PST by CutePuppy
WONDERLAND
Scooter Libby and Reputation
Prosecutions that wreak ruin on a lifetime.
The trial of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby is the closest version of a Red Queen trial this country has had in a long time. One says that knowing it might start a stampede from past defendants laying claim to the most upside-down prosecution.
Lewis G. Carroll's account of the Knave' s trial before the Red Queen and White Rabbit is famous for the Queen's dictum, "Sentence first, verdict afterward." But read the full transcript of the mock trial and one will see that the real subject is not justice, but the humiliation of the defendant.
The trial of Scooter Libby in Washington, the national capital of illogic, has been exemplary. In December 2003, the prosecutor purports a crime has been committed by revealing a "covert" CIA agent's identity to the press--despite knowing then what the outside world learned nearly three years later--that the revealer of the agent was a State Department official, Richard Armitage. With the "whodunnit" solved on day one, the prosecution follows the Red Queen's script by taking the nation on a useless, joyless ride through the opaque looking-glass of Washington journalism.
The testimony of three of the world's most sophisticated journalists--Judith Miller, Matthew Cooper and Tim Russert--was the trial's closest thing to the White Rabbit reading nonsense verse to the jury: "For this must ever be a secret, kept from all the rest, between yourself and me."
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Incredibly, Scooter Libby and Ray Donovan had the same lawyer, Ted Wells. So did Sandy Lewis then and KPMG today, Stanley Arkin. Mr. Arkin thinks it's worse now.
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It is a travesty that the Valerie Plame bump-and-run case brought Lewis Libby to the edge of this cliff.
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(Excerpt) Read more at opinionjournal.com ...
God has some cases coming on the docket: OJ Simpson, Joe Wilson, Fidel Castro, Bill and Hillary Clinton, and many others.
Prosecuters with political axes to grind or with just "pure" political ambition, giving us justice for all. Interesting inclusions in the articale, however.
Yeah, Giuliani was one of those ambitious NY DA's. Rudy got a "plea bargain" with Michael Milken only after he threatened to ruin Milken's brother, as he really didn't have a viable case against the "man" himself.
But at least Rudy did have some real accomplishments and did heavy damage to the Mafia, cleaned up some union influence and government corruption in NY. Others just went after "big pockets" using "legal" intimidation and financial blackmail - really just an extortion tactics, not much different from Mafia's - and got fat settlements that never compensated the victims, if there were any.
Spitzer was a "good" understudy, it would seem.
As to Rudy, the innocent people ruined could be viewed as collateral damage.
Libby is a democrat.
LOL, this obviously has nothing to do with Libby, its a political prosecution of the Pres and VP.
As far as I am concerned the reputation lost in this trial is that of Fitzgerald.
Before he started he ahd a decent reputation. Now we all know he is a political hack, a fraud, a thief, and a low life.
I have not heard this before. How do you know this?
So what is the verdict of this travesty going to be? I hope that at lest we get a hung jury and of course the best outcome will be “not guilty” because this whole trial is one of the biggest farce trials in history.
From all the articles that appeared when he was first indicted.
Since there are 5 counts a mistrial wouldn't be so bad because they almost certainly will acquit on 3 of the 5 unless they are utter morons. Judging from the blogs during the jury selection it seems like there are some pretty decent people on the jury. Of course the MSM will only focus on the mistrial aspect of it.
Well, one verdict is already in, undeniably : it is a travesty of prosecution and a political show trial.
The question now really is whether the people on DC jury want to be a part of it on the record forever in the annals of US justice system, just like OJ jury.
Fitzgerald is already compared to Mike Nifong unfavorably, because he knew from the start that no law was broken, and who the person was that disclosed "CIA wife" information to Novak, who found the rest of information in public source materials. Nifong didn't even have that luxury, he had a somewhat unreliable potential victim with a possible crime in the beginning, and then proceeded to "cook" the crime.
Now we'll know if jury is willing to go along with an obvious political farce and cause the loss of freedom to a real victim of political persecution by a political hack with a law degree.
I believe it's his attorney who's a Democrat, not Scooter. It would take some serious documentation to prove otherwise.
It was a faulty memory regarding that Marc Rich thingy that tripped me up. I guess when I read that he had worked for the Clintons I subconsciously assumed he was a dem.
Perhaps you were right after all.
LOL! Yeah, a rose by any other name is still a rose.
Financial blackmail, you mean like Jesse Jackson too !
He was also attorney for Marc Rich and IIRC "beat" Fitz in some of those go 'rounds, there could be a personal element in play too.
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