Lewis Libby, the former top aide to Vice President Dick Cheney, has been the center of the ongoing investigations in a possible White House leak involving the identity of an active CIA agent and has been indicted on five charges stemming from his alleged lies to FBI agents and a federal grand jury.
Libby, known affectionately among his political allies as "Scooter," resigned as soon as he was indicted and is now resorting to a common practice in Washington scandals.
His attorney, Joseph Tate, is organizing a defense that blames any inaccuracies in Libby's testimonies on simply a bad memory.
The defense is basing Libby's poor recollection of past conversations he may have had on the idea that he is too busy to be expected to remember every little detail, and that's why he should be admonished for any possible lies to the agents and grand jury.
For many decades, Washington political figures have resorted to such defense tactics in order to escape heavier prosecution and, in some cases, to escape any convictions all together.
From the Iran-Contra affair to Whitewater, political figures have widely used the lack-of-memory defense to try to justify that high-stress political figures couldn't possibly be expected to remember events and conversations that took place months or even years ago.
The indictment against Libby outlines his involvement in the leak of the identity of CIA agent Valerie Plame as being the source to different media outlets. Special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald alleges that Libby initially leaked Plame's identity to Time magazine and the New York Times and then lied to the grand jury about his involvement.
Libby contends that he didn't know anything about Plame's identity being given to reporters.
Fitzgerald obviously wants to prove that not only did Libby know about Plame's identity but also that he learned of it from Cheney and revealed it as a means of retaliation against Plame's husband, Joseph Wilson, a former ambassador and outspoken opponent of President George W. Bush's administration.
Although Libby initially denied any involvement with the leak and now is attempting to backtrack and blame bad memory as the reason for his alleged lies, Fitzgerald and the prosecution have a duty to make sure that the people at fault are justifiably punished for this borderline act of treason.
Even if Libby wasn't the initial source of the leak, he should come clean and stop hiding behind this pathetic defense, which has for too long allowed criminal acts by powerful political leaders to be brushed aside.
When members of the Reagan and Bush Sr. administrations were testifying in the Iran-Contra hearings, they used this same defense because they weren't brought to trial until years after the crime and only one person involved received a prison sentence. All of the other officials involved were later pardoned by then-President George H. W. Bush.
Bill and Hillary Clinton used the defense during their Whitewater hearings, and they were cleared of questionable real estate deals, primarily because they took place too long before any hearings for the Clintons to correctly recall all of the events that took place.
This country's legal system is based on finding the truth with sufficient evidence and there certainly seems to be overwhelming evidence against Libby that shows he was indeed the initial leak and that he lied previously about his involvement.
If Fitzgerald can prove his claims about Libby, then the accused must pay the price or come clean.
Regardless of the fact that Plame's career was ruined or the existence of some stupid feud between Wilson and Bush administration officials, Libby either needs to pay the price for his crime or he needs to stop hiding behind a bogus defense and come clean, if not for the sake of his reputation then for the sake of this country's justice system.
Be the first to comment on this article!