Last Plamegate Worry for Bush-Cheney By Robert Parry

http://consortiumnews.com/2007/060607.html


It’s a well-worn talking point for George W. Bush’s supporters to say there was no underlying crime beneath former White House aide I. Lewis Libby’s conviction for obstructing justice, a debatable point itself. But the evidence is clear there was a larger cover-up conspiracy – and it could still unravel.

The problem for prosecutors has been that the cover-up conspiracy involves the top two executive officers of the U.S. government, George W. Bush and Dick Cheney, meaning that the standards of proof required and concerns over the nation’s well-being if charges were brought have risen to near prohibitive levels.

Which is why the question of whether Libby will be sent off to jail to start serving his 30-month sentence before his appeals are exhausted is so consequential. While many Libby supporters are confident that President Bush will pardon Libby before leaving office, it is less clear that Bush will act before Election 2008.

That means if U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton orders Libby to start his jail term in July while his appeals proceed – as it now appears the judge will – Bush will be faced with the prospect of Libby serving more than half his sentence before November 2008 and a risk that Libby finally might cooperate with special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald.

If Libby, who was Vice President Cheney’s chief of staff, were to start talking, he could explain the full role of Bush and Cheney in orchestrating the smear campaign against Iraq War critic Joseph Wilson, which set the stage for Libby and other administration officials to leak the identity of Wilson’s wife, covert CIA officer Valerie Plame, in summer 2003.

EXCELLENT, METHODICAL SUMMARY AND ANALYSIS! COULD BE RIGHT OFF FITZGERALD'S BRIEFING NOTES! READ THE WHOLE ARTICLE TO SEE HOW DEEP THE DOO-DOO IS PILED AROUND BUSH AND CHENEY!

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Robert Parry broke many of the Iran-Contra stories in the 1980s for the Associated Press and Newsweek. His latest book, Secrecy & Privilege: Rise of the Bush Dynasty from Watergate to Iraq, can be ordered at secrecyandprivilege.com. It's also available at Amazon.com, as is his 1999 book, Lost History: Contras, Cocaine, the Press & 'Project Truth.'

why did libby HAVE to lie? And as per conservative values, PERJURY IS NOT A CRIME, UNDERLYING OR NOT (as long as it is committed by a CONSERVATIVE, which it was done by libby. Could this episode explain the UNDERLYING reason why conservatives deathly fear being put under oath and forced to swear to tell the truth?

- If Clinton had told the truth nothing would have happened
- If libby had told the truth cheney would be in jail.

No underlying crime My Ass!