I wonder if we'll know what Hanoi John's other than honorable discharge papers said by then?
Posted on 06/08/2007 5:33:33 PM PDT by buccaneer81
The Incredible Judicial Disparity: Berger v. Libby
June 8, 2007 at 5:23 am · Filed under Vox Populi
If you needed any more proof that the American judicial system is completely and alarmingly subjective – beyond Paris Hilton's early release – look no further than the disparity between the sentences imposed on Sandy Berger and I. Lewis ‘Scooter’ Libby. In Washington DC’s version of The Peoples’ Court, it would seem that the deciding factors in how severe a sentence one gets depends on political party affiliation, the severity of the crime be damned.
This past Tuesday US District Judge Reggie B. Walton, a Bush 43 appointee, sentenced former Vice Presidential Chief of Staff I. Lewis ‘Scooter’ Libby to 30 months in prison and fined him $250,000 for obstruction of justice and lying to a federal agent. Walton said he saw no good reason to allow Libby to remain free pending appeal. Walton also required Libby to serve two years probation upon release from prison.
Libby’s conviction stems from an overly aggressive investigation into the alleged “leaking” of a covert CIA agent’s name, Valerie Plame. Plame, the wife of the irritatingly smug Joseph Wilson, had sent him on a non-White House sanctioned exploratory mission to Niger, which, as Christopher Hitchens aptly points out, inadvertently validated President Bush’s claim that Saddam Hussein had been shopping for yellowcake uranium in Niger, a point the agenda-driven media dropped at the Wilson’s allegation of Plame’s outing.
As Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald investigated the matter it became quite clear to even the most intellectually challenged among us, that no one in the White House had anything to do with Ms. Plame’s alleged exposure as a Non-Official Cover operative (NOC). In fact, not only had Robert Novak and Richard Armitage informed Fitzgerald that it was in truth Armitage who had mentioned Plame’s name, the facts cast serious doubt as to whether she was considered covert at all, her cover had been blown years early by convicted spy Aldrich Ames.
Through it all, Fitzgerald’s relentless pursuit of someone to charge with something uncovered only that Libby was guilty of not being able to recall who had mentioned Plame’s name to him. Libby testified that he heard Plame's name from Tim Russert of NBC News when, in fact, he learned of Plame's identify from other government officials. The former chief of staff – who it should be pointed out was preoccupied by operating at his post while our nation was at war – gave conflicting accounts to FBI agents and in testimony to the Grand Jury.
It bears mentioning here that the vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Sen. Kit Bond (R-MO), is calling for Plame to explain “differences” in her various accounts of how her husband came to be sent on an exploratory mission to Niger in the first place, her diverse accounts having been given to the CIA's inspector general, Senate investigators and a House committee in March. We will wait to see if Plame is imprisoned for having a bad memory or whether she gets a book deal.
For Libby’s bad memory – and for not outing a non-covert CIA analyst – he will spend two and a half years of his life, which has up until now been spent as a distinguished public servant, behind bars and become a quarter of a million dollars poorer in the process.
By contrast, and even though the crime committed was infinitely more dubious, Sandy Berger is still free to roam the streets – and the National Archives.
In October of 2003, former Clinton National Security Advisor Sandy Berger, in preparation for his 9/11 Commission testimony, removed and then destroyed unique and classified documents pertaining to the Clinton Administration’s knowledge of terrorist threats to the United States.
Berger described his removal of the unique documents initially as “an honest mistake.” But as details emerged, courtesy of a report titled, Sandy Berger's Theft of Classified Documents: Unanswered Questions compiled by the US House Committee on Oversight & Government Reform, it became clear that Berger’s efforts were premeditated and tantamount to an attempt at obstructing the 9/11 Commission’s investigation.
Comparing the two cases, you would think that Sandy Berger would be in the cell next to ‘Scooter’ Libby, the one welcoming Libby into the minimum security federal corrections facility where the politically elite serve their time. Additionally, you would think that Berger would be the one wishing Libby well as he watched him walk out of prison after 30 months, Berger remaining to finish his sentence. But the US Judicial System isn’t that equitable, especially when politics is concerned.
Where Patrick Fitzgerald’s ego-driven investigation culminated in his need to charge someone to with something (an honest and thorough investigation could never result in no charges being filed, right?), those investigating Sandy Berger’s crime against the people of the United States were, it appears, motivated solely by political loyalty, having been placed in their positions by the Clinton Administration.
US Justice Department Inspector General Glenn Fine, Deputy Assistant US Attorney General Bruce Swartz, Chief of the USJD Counterterrorism Section John Dion and Howard Sklamberg, USJD trial attorney from the public integrity unit, were all principally involved in the Berger investigation and were all either appointed by Bill Clinton or were holdovers from the Clinton Administration.
As a result of the incredibly apathetic USJD investigation and prosecution of Sandy Berger’s theft and destruction of unique and classified documents from the National Archives, and as the result of a plea bargain authorized by the USJD, Berger agreed to a $10,000 fine, a revocation of his security clearance for three years and a lie detector test, which to this day has not been administered. This sentence was augmented by US Magistrate Judge Deborah Robinson who increased the fine to $50,000 and added two years probation and 100 hours of community service. Robinson said, “The court finds that the fine [recommended by government prosecutors] is inadequate because it doesn't reflect the seriousness of the offense.”
Berger, additionally, forfeited his license to practice law to avoid being cross-examined about his illegal activities by the Board on Bar Counsel, a forfeiture that effectively ends any inquiry into Berger’s crimes.
In the end, ‘Scooter Libby’ will be spending the next two and a half years behind bars for not being able to correctly remember who committed the non-crime of not outing a non-covert CIA analyst whose recollections are as various as the media outlets and congressional fact finding committees she recounted them to. Meanwhile, Sandy Berger gets to have lunch at Spago whenever he wants and after he stole, then destroyed, unique and significant documents committed to the United States National Archives, documents pertaining to the most devastating slaughter of human beings on American soil ever.
The inequity of these two sentences, the egomaniacal piety of the investigations, both aggressive and apathetic, demonstrates that the legal system in the United States of America – and especially the US Justice Department – has been politicized to the point of corruption.
In an atmosphere where judicial veracity and the integrity of the prosecutorial process have been compromised, no justice can be found.
“Our country is now taking so steady a course as to show by what road it will pass to destruction, to wit: by consolidation [of power] first, and then corruption, its necessary consequence.” – Thomas Jefferson
Frank Salvato is the managing editor for The New Media Journal. He serves at the Executive Director of the Basics Project, a non-profit, non-partisan, 501(C)(3) research and education initiative. His pieces are regularly featured in over 100 publications both nationally and internationally. He has appeared on The O’Reilly Factor. He hosts NMJ Radio airing on BlogTalkRadio and heard around the world on NetTalkWorld global talk radio. He is a regular guest on The Right Balance with Greg Allen on the Accent Radio Network and The Captain’s America on the World Internet Radio Network, heard in Camp Victory, Iraq, as well as numerous radio shows coast to coast. His organization, Basics Project, is partnered in producing the first-ever national symposium series on the threat of radical Islamist terrorism. His pieces have been recognized by the House International Relations Committee and the Japan Center for Conflict.
I’m 52 — I’ll be dead and buried before the truth finally comes out about the infamous FBI files ... the reason why justice is repeatedly denied.
Oh, I don't know.
Paris Hilton was sentenced for being a rich spoiled brat, Sandy Burger for attempting to use his underpants to alter history, a Scooter Libby lying in order to protect Administration officers and policies.
Scooter Libby tried and convicted for being a republican; Sandy Burgler who STOLE highly classified documents and hid them in a “drop” zone was let free for being a democrat.
Fitzy is an out of control prosecutor and it seems that Walton is an idiot.
Yes, yes, of course, but Burglar was a DEMOCRAT.
Makes all the difference in the world.
After all, the DEMOCRATs are for the extermination of the UBER-EVYL Israel, the elimination of the EVYL American hegemony, and for the promotion into positions of Power the nations of any and all people who are not of Indigenous European Descent, regardless of how barbaric or savage they are.
Meanwhile, the REPUBLICANS, more or less, promote the American Hegemony and =GASP= AmericanISM, you know, the American Dream, Everyone on Equal Standing Before the Law, and, HORROR OF HORRORS, the value of a person’s or a culture’s accomplishments being determined by absolute standards of decency and MERIT and contributions to Arts, Sciences, Engneering, Law, and Medicine.
Where is Bush? Oh, I forgot, under a rock in his office. He can’t dictate a pardon letter because he doesn’t know how. Fitzgerald should be in jail for stealing all our tax money on this witch hunt. Oh, I forgot, we have two classes of people, indictable and un-indictable, Fitzgerald must be in the Sandy Berger group.
I wonder if we'll know what Hanoi John's other than honorable discharge papers said by then?
Another good piece by Frank.
Yup. I'm surprised more Freepers aren't readers of MND.
Yes, it certainly is a double standard: Berger gets a slap on the wrist for a significant crime, while Libby gets a grossly disproportionate sentence for no crime whatsover.
Demographically, they are both white male heterosexual lawyers, in their 50s, raised on the East Coast, Jewish, worked in the White House. The only difference: one dares be a Republican neocon, the other is a loyal 'Rat.
Move along? That's what the 'Rats would want us to do. But criminal justice is too darn important for a society that has prided itself in "justice for all." We have to address this horrendous problem of a "double standard" before we are completely destroyed as a just and decent society.
Tell me again why America isn’t on her way to becoming a second-rate nation, along with (once-)Great Britain.
Just goes to show that W has made a few bad judicial appointments that should have been vetted more thoroughly during the nomination and confirmation prosesses. Of course, perhaps one of the reasons Walton was confirmed is the color of his skin.
Cynthia McKinney, Patches Kennedy, hell Ted Kennedy, and a host of others who get away with no jail time. Did Naomi Campbell get any time for whacking her assistant with a cell phone?
Double standard is right. Berger should be buried so far in a Federal Pen for what he did. I just know he’s laughing at Libby, and probably at Paris.
Ping!
It is Buiish*t like this that is turning our country into a powderkeg. There is a seething undercurrent of conservative anger I think.
Wake up. It’s all Bush’s fault.
If we can continually disregard our Constitution by judicial activism, why can’t we do that to the rest of written law? The slippery slid of “liberal interpretation” of our written laws is leading to the disregard for our laws in favor of judge’s “opinions” as court rulings. Our judicial system, at the hands of liberal interpretations, has now become nothing more than bad theater.
WRONG spelling!
It should more correctly read: CLINTON vs. Libby!! He lied to the Grand Jury about the "blow-jobber"!!!
True. And you ain't seen nothing until you've been to "Family Court."
Have to disagree about the motive, since there was nothing to protect them from in the case in question.
The only plausible motivation left I can see is that he though he was telling the truth. If so, then he is going to jail for cooperating with the investigation.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.