Book 'im, Dan-O

Greg Palast: It's a crime. No kidding. But the media has it all wrong. As usual.



'Scooter' Libby finally outed 'Mr. Big,' the perpetrator of the heinous disclosure of the name of secret agent Valerie Plame. It was the President of United States himself -- in conspiracy with his Vice-President. Now the pundits are arguing over whether our war-a-holic President had the legal right to leak this national security information. But, that's a fake debate meant to distract you.


OK, let's accept the White House alibi that releasing Plame's identity was no crime. But if that's true, they've committed a bigger crime: Bush and Cheney knowingly withheld vital information from a grand jury investigation, a multimillion dollar inquiry the perps themselves authorized. That's akin to calling in a false fire alarm or calling the cops for a burglary that never happened -- but far, far worse. Let's not forget that in the hunt for the perpetrator of this non-crime, reporter Judith Miller went to jail.


Think about that. While Miller sat in a prison cell, Bush and Cheney were laughing their sick heads off, knowing the grand jury testimony, the special prosecutor's subpoenas and the FBI's terrorizing newsrooms were nothing but fake props in Bush's elaborate charade, Cheney's Big Con.


On February 10, 2004, our not-so-dumb-as-he-sounds President stated, "Listen, I know of nobody -- I don't know of anybody in my administration who leaked classified information. If somebody did leak classified information, I'd like to know it, and we'll take the appropriate action. And this investigation is a good thing. ...And if people have got solid information, please come forward with it."


Notice Bush's cleverly crafted words. He says he can't name anyone who leaked this "classified" info -- knowing full well he'd de-classified it. Far from letting Bush off the hook, it worsens the crime. For years, I worked as a government investigator and, let me tell you, Bush and Cheney withholding material information from the grand jury is a felony. Several felonies, actually: abuse of legal process, fraud, racketeering and, that old standby, obstruction of justice.


If you or I had manipulated the legal system this way, we'd be breaking rocks on a chain gang. We wouldn't even get a trial -- most judges would consider this a "fraud upon the court" and send us to the slammer using the bench's power to administer instant punishment for contempt of the judicial system.


Bush admitted his actions to a room full of students he was speaking to at John Hopkins. This selective secret declassification of "facts" led to the ousting of CIA operative Valerie Plame Wilson who was "part of an operation tracking distribution and acquisition of weapons of mass destruction technology to and from Iran." Will we ever know how much this action by the President has damaged our national security? For certainly that is just as much a crime as blatant disregard of the laws of the land by means of abuse of legal process, fraud, racketeering and obstruction of justice.

Destroying the public trust should bear a price as well, with 63% of Americans believing that Bush did something illegal or unethical in regards to the leak scandal.

Yes, let's book 'im, Dan-O.

[Hat tip JS]