Cruising Toward Freedom
January 25th, 2007I haven’t much to contribute today, but I’m willing to go out on a limb to predict that Scooter Libby will be found guilty at the end of this trial. For one, I never bet against Patrick Fitzgerald, and for another, I never bet for people whose truths are so easily disproven.
The spokeswoman for Vice President Dick Cheney told a jury Thursday that she informed Cheney and his chief of staff, I. Lewis Libby Jr., that the wife of a prominent critic of the invasion of Iraq worked for the CIA days before Libby contended he heard the information from a reporter. Cathie Martin, who was Cheney’s chief spokeswoman, was the fourth witness for the prosecution in the perjury and obstruction of justice trial of Libby, who is charged with lying during an investigation of who leaked the name of the CIA operative, Valerie Plame Wilson, and why. Unlike the previous three witnesses, who worked at the CIA and State Department, Martin provided an insider’s perspective, one from directly inside the office of the vice president.
The perspective she laid out under questioning from a federal prosecutor was damaging to Libby. She testified that both Cheney and Libby were intensely interested in Wilson and her husband, Joseph Wilson, who had been sent on a mission to Africa to investigate reports that Saddam Hussein was trying to buy uranium from Niger for his nuclear weapons program. Martin’s testimony was damaging for Libby in two respects. She bolstered the prosecution’s assertion that Libby was fully aware of Wilson’s identity from a number of administration officials, and did not first learn about her from reporters, as he has claimed. Perhaps more important, she testified as a former close colleague of Libby’s and demonstrated her familiarity with him by repeatedly referring to him by his nickname, Scooter.
Martin, who still works at the White House but no longer for Cheney, described how Libby had telephoned a senior Central Intelligence Agency official in her presence and asked about the Wilson trip. She said she was then put on the phone with Bill Harlow, the CIA’s spokesman, who told her that Wilson went on behalf of the agency and that his wife worked there. Some days later, she testified, she told Libby and Cheney that Wilson’s wife worked at the agency. Libby is facing five felony counts that he lied when he told a grand jury and FBI agents that he learned of Wilson’s identity from reporters. Her identity was first disclosed in a news column by Robert Novak on July 14, 2003, just days after her husband had written a commentary in The New York Times asserting that the Bush administration had distorted intelligence to bolster the case for invading Iraq.
To counter this, Libby is arguing that their memories are faulty and credibility suspect, that the Bush Administration set him up to be their fall-guy because they didn’t want Rove busted, and also that he was too busy a man to engage in such petty rift-raft — indeed, he was busy talking to Tom Cruise about scientology. Hollywood is a crazy place, and Libby is apparently counting on that to help him Cruise toward freedom. I think it’s pretty clear he’s going to prison, and hopefully he can join Israel’s President.
Israel’s embattled president temporarily gave up his powers Thursday, but dozens of legislators vowed to have him dismissed so he could face sexual assault charges, including rape. President Moshe Katsav, who insists he is the victim of a conspiracy, stepped aside after a parliamentary committee voted 13-11 to grant his request to do so. He preserved his immunity by taking a leave rather than resigning. Legislator Zehava Galon, who is leading parliamentary efforts to oust the ceremonial leader, was outraged that parliament’s house committee didn’t include dismissing Katsav on its agenda.
“The decision taken today is a prize for a man accused of rape,” Galon said. “Instead of finding himself behind bars, this man charged with rape gets a prize of continuing to serve as president.” Parliamentary Speaker Dalia Itzik stepped in as acting president - the first woman to hold the post. For seven months, Katsav has been at the centre of allegations that he preyed on women who worked for him, threatening to fire them if they didn’t grant him sexual favours. On Tuesday, Attorney General Meni Mazuz notified Katsav that he intended to press charges of rape, sexual assault and abuse of power, but said he would first give the president an opportunity to plead his case before him. Katsav has said he would resign if, after the hearing, Mazuz decides to go ahead with the indictment.
The president, whose seven-year term is to end in July, made no public comment after the parliamentary committee’s vote. But in an emotional, hour-long speech broadcast on all Israeli television stations on Wednesday, the 61-year-old Katsav painted himself as the victim of a vicious campaign by journalists, police and the state prosecution to smear his name. He said he would “fight with his last breath” to clear his name, but would not resign before his hearing.
I don’t understand Legislatures, sometimes. Don’t get me wrong, they’re always integral to a democratic society, but I’d quite like it if someday, a legislature could take rapid action and remove a man from power, especially when he’s not actually in power, serves merely as a figurehead, and has been charged with rape. The wheels of justice turn slowly, but they turn.