The Libby Verdict

“Justice is nothing more than what is in the interests of the stronger” said Thrasymachus in Plato’s Republic. Certainly, the powerful never have to face Justice, though on occasion they may have to toss and underling overboard to keep the ship of state afloat. This probably explains why Lewis “Scooter” Libby, former aide to Vice-president Cheney, became the legal equivalent of shark bait (the chump cast aside to satiate the jaws of the “justice” system). In other words, Scooter ends up getting shredded so that the pirate captain and his first mate can sail away.

Make no mistake the jury in the Libby case believed the defendant was a sacrificial lamb. Libby’s attorneys argued as much, implying that their client was the fall guy in a larger plot involving Karl Rove, Dick Cheney, and President Bush. Mind you, if the president or vice-president leaks classified information, even to punish critics, it’s not a crime (since they have the authority to declassify material on a whim). It is a political problem, however, when the president insists he wants to get to the bottom of a leak investigation, but is simultaneously declassifying material that will be used in a campaign to smear his critics.

What did the president know, and when did he know it? We the public will probably never know. But here are some unflattering facts: First, the maligned Joe Wilson was right, the administration was hyping the case for war (and ignoring evidence that contradicted its preconceptions). Second, the administration was playing hardball to squelch, discredit, and intimidate its critics. And third, the administration was hyper anxious about any information that might derail its case for war with the public.

All of this, of course, belies the administration’s continued insistence that it relied on bad intelligence in good faith. From the beginning war in Iraq was spun from a web of lies, but its architects are still spinning deceits in the hopes they can ensnare others in a maze of deceptions rather than face the consequences. Libby, now a convicted felon, and facing jail time, may be more inclined to shed light upon the inner workings of the Bush Administration. For such circumstances president Bush has the ultimate “get out of jail free” card, the presidential pardon. In pardoning Libby he’d be pardoning himself and Dick Cheney. As Thrasymachus discerned, “Justice is nothing more than what is in the interests of the stronger.”

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