Joe Hack

Justice ! Free and fair. Equal and available for all. The bedrock of any civilized society. Not in America ! For over four years the American judicial system has run its course in the case of , former chief of staff for the Vice-President Dick Cheney. At last, after the most painstaking and mericulous review of the facts by the FBI and by a grand-jury hearing Libby was convicted on five counts of felony and sentenced to two and a half years in jail. A relatively mild punishment, many would think, for acts that endangered the security of the nation and bordered on treason. Immediately the sentence was announced, however, up popped Libby’s former paymaster, George W Bush, to use his presidential power to reject the courts verdict and decree that Libby should not spend a single day in jail. This, you will recall, is the same George W Bush who favours tougher sentencing and enthusiastically suports the death penalty. But of course thats only for folks like you and me. Not for his cronies. Oh hell no !

This is the most extreme and shocking act of disrespect to the American legal system that any of us can ever remember. Sure previous presidents, including Bush senior and Clinton, had granted dubious pardons but this outrageous act of cronyism goes far beyond any of those. It is fundamentally different. Libby was convicted of lying to the court and obstructing justice.  Lets recall the circumstances. Bush decided to wage war on Iraq on the basis of lies, in particular the false assertion that it had ‘weapons of mass destruction‘. One of the few people to expose that lie was a former US ambassador, Joseph Wilson.  Bush’s cronies, as part of a smear campaign of revenge on Wilson for telling the truth, leaked to the media that Wilson’s wife was a covert CIA operative, thereby putting her life at risk. Libby was a key player in this shameful episode and lied to cover it up. What he and bush’s aides did was to break all previous conventions regarding the naming of CIA operatives and thereby put at risk the life of a government employee. It was reckless, deeply nasty, and as close to treason as you can get. By any standards it was a very, very serious crime. Thats what ‘Scooter’ faced jail-time for, although of course he was just the monkey and the organ-grinders - who should have faced the courts were Bush and Cheney.

So what is the result of Bushs breathtaking intervention ? Well for a start this decision makes a mockery of the basic principle of the seperation of power between the executive and the courts. The sentencing guidelines of the US courts have been disregarded. Prospective CIA operatives will think twice, knowing that they can be publically outed for political reasons by any whitehouse aide with a grudge. The American public, bar a few far-right headbangers, is outraged, with 67% recently being oppoosed to any form of pardon for Libby. Bush is now, according to polls, the most unpopular president *ever*, with ratings for unpopularity that have set completely new records. However as one Bush aide dismissively said , ‘the President can take the heat’. Thats a measure of just how contemptuous and arrogant this administration has become.  The real damage though is not to Bush. He’s a lost cause anyway.

The real damage is to America. The cancer of corruption has been starkly exposed in a government that is now rotten to the core. The rest of the world looks on in disbelief that a nation which so prides itself on its systems of justice and fairness should have sunk so low. No-one outside America can possibly take seriously anything the present American government says about ‘freedom‘ or ‘democracy’ or ‘justice’. The Libby case demonstrates yet again that in Bush’s eyes he and his cronies are above the law. Public tolerance for that kind of arrogance has ebbed though, washed away by the bloody mess of the middle east and the increasingly obvious corruption in government. Its just not fixable as things are. The hard fact is that when you have a cancer it has to be removed for there to be any chance of survival.   So lets hope the shame that this latest episode brings America will not be a totally negative thing.  Lets hope this will be the final outrageous act of corruption that signals the beginning of the end.

The nation under Bush has become deeply sick. Lets all hope for a speedy recovery, but first the cancer must be legally removed so that the healing can begin.  Impeachment anyone ?Tags:administration America arrogance Bush chief of staff CIA operative Clinton convicted corruption crime death penalty Dick Cheney FBI felony freedom George W Bush government Impeachment Iraq jail Joseph Wilson judicial system justice legal system legally Lewis Scooter Libby Libby media middle east obstructing justice outrageous pardon pardons Political Rants punishment ratings security shame society treason unpopular president unpopularity US courts weapons of mass destructionadministration, America, arrogance, Bush, chief of staff, CIA operative, Clinton, convicted, corruption, crime, death penalty, Dick Cheney, FBI, felony, freedom, George W Bush, government, Impeachment, Iraq, jail, Joseph Wilson, judicial system, justice, legal system, legally, Lewis Scooter Libby, Libby, media, middle east, obstructing justice, outrageous, pardon, pardons, Political Rants, punishment, ratings, security, shame, society, treason, unpopular president, unpopularity, US courts, weapons of mass destruction

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After the longest farewell in the history of politics, Tony Blair has finally resigned as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. It was a leaving characterized by the same spin and cheesey schmaltz that has flawed British politics for the last ten years. Instead of diving straight into the trough of the lucrative American lecture circuit though, his Tony’ness is now apparently off to bring peace to the middle east ! Yes, you heard me right !The group of four (America, Russia, the EUU and the UN) charged with promoting a middle east peace settlement have appointed him as their special envoy to do just that. If you didn’t laugh you’d have to cry. It is, of course, purely and simply a Bush appointment.  He’s throwing Tony a bone for his poodle-like subservience over Iraq and at the same time placing a tame mouthpiece in the middle-east to push a pro-US agenda. Yet another cynical move that thinks its pretty clever but is, in fact, dumb as a bucket of spanners.

The Israel/ Palestine conflict is a running sore that infects not just the middle-east but the rest of the world. A just, equitable solution is desperately needed. No-one could argue with that. So what are Blair’s credentials for this utterly crucial job ? Well lets think. Together with Bush he invaded Iraq on the basis of either outright lies or ‘flawed evidence’  (depending on how charitable you wish to be). That catastrophic mistake has led directly to the deaths of an estimated 600,000 people so far and turned a further 4 million into refugees.  The invasion and continuing occupation has de-stabilised the whole region,  pushed Iraq towards civil war, created a new breeding ground for extremist terrorism, and unarguably made the whole world a much more dangerous place.

More recently, when Israeli war-planes and tanks were waging war on Lebanon and the whole world was demanding a ceasefire, Blair joined with Bush and the Israeli PM as the only three world leaders blocking any such move, thereby allowing the unneccessary killing of civilians to continue. Impressive credentials as a supposedly unbiased ‘peace-broker’, eh ? And those are just a few of the highlights of Mr Blairs involvement in the middle east, where he is probably the second most hated western leader (after Mr Bush of course) and is generally regarded as nothing more than a mouthpiece for the USA and Israel. So in what crazy alternate universe was Mr Blair seen as the ideal man to broker a peace deal between Israel and Palestine ? There are any number of distinguished politicians who could have done this vital job and God knows someone certainly needs to do it, and quick.  In reality it would be difficult to find anyone who is a *worse* candidate for the job than Mr Tony Blair. He has no credibility in the middle-east whatsoever and is regarded with deep suspicion. Which kind of makes you question Mr Bushs seriousness about the whole process, or his understanding of the situation, or possibly both. But whats new ?

 Is it just me, or is the world getting crazier by the day ? You really and truly couldn’t make stuff like this up, could you ?

Joe HackTags:agenda American Blair British Bush catastrophic mistake civil war cynical flawed evidence Iraq Israel Israeli Joe Hack killing of civilians Lebanon middle east no credibility Palestine peace Political Rants politics Prime Minister refugees special envoy terrorism Tony Blair United Kingdom USAagenda, American, Blair, British, Bush, catastrophic mistake, civil war, cynical, flawed evidence, Iraq, Israel, Israeli, Joe Hack, killing of civilians, Lebanon, middle east, no credibility, Palestine, peace, Political Rants, politics, Prime Minister, refugees, special envoy, terrorism, Tony Blair, United Kingdom, USA

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