-By Frank Salvato
If you needed any more proof that the American judicial system is completely – and alarmingly – subjective, look no further than the disparity between the sentences imposed on Sandy Berger and
I. Lewis ‘Scooter’ Libby. In Washington DC’s version of The Peoples’ Court, it would seem that the deciding factors in how severe a sentence one gets depends on political party affiliation, the severity of the crime be damned.
This past Tuesday US District Judge Reggie B. Walton, a Bush 43 appointee, sentenced former Vice Presidential Chief of Staff I. Lewis ‘Scooter’ Libby to 30 months in prison and fined him $250,000 for obstruction of justice and lying to a federal agent. Walton said he saw no good reason to allow Libby to remain free pending appeal. Walton also required Libby to serve two years probation upon release from prison.
Libby’s conviction stems from an overly aggressive investigation into the alleged “leaking” of a covert CIA agent’s name, Valerie Plame. Plame, the wife of the irritatingly smug Joseph Wilson, had sent him on a non-White House sanctioned exploratory mission to Niger, which, as Christopher Hitchens aptly points out, inadvertently validated President Bush’s claim that Saddam Hussein had been shopping for yellowcake uranium in Niger, a point the agenda-driven media dropped at the Wilson’s allegation of Plame’s outing.
As Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald investigated the matter it became quite clear to even the most intellectually challenged among us, that no one in the White House had anything to do with Ms. Plame’s alleged exposure as a Non-Official Cover operative (NOC). In fact, not only had Robert Novak and Richard Armitage informed Fitzgerald that it was in truth Armitage who had mentioned Plame’s name, the facts cast serious doubt as to whether she was considered covert at all, her cover had been blown years early by convicted spy Aldrich Ames.
Through it all, Fitzgerald’s relentless pursuit of someone to charge with something uncovered only that Libby was guilty of not being able to recall who had mentioned Plame’s name to him. Libby testified that he heard Plame’s name from Tim Russert of NBC News when, in fact, he learned of Plame’s identify from other government officials. The former chief of staff – who it should be pointed out was preoccupied by operating at his post while our nation was at war – gave conflicting accounts to FBI agents and in testimony to the Grand Jury.
It bears mentioning here that the vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Sen. Kit Bond (R-MO), is calling for Plame to explain “differences” in her various accounts of how her husband came to be sent on an exploratory mission to Niger in the first place, her diverse accounts having been given to the CIA’s inspector general, Senate investigators and a House committee in March. We will wait to see if Plame is imprisoned for having a bad memory or whether she gets a book deal.
For Libby’s bad memory – and for not outing a non-covert CIA analyst – he will spend two and a half years of his life, which has up until now been spent as a distinguished public servant, behind bars and become a quarter of a million dollars poorer in the process.
By contrast, and even though the crime committed was infinitely more dubious, Sandy Berger is still free to roam the streets – and the National Archives.
In October of 2003, former Clinton National Security Advisor Sandy Berger, in preparation for his 9/11 Commission testimony, removed and then destroyed unique and classified documents pertaining to the Clinton Administration’s knowledge of terrorist threats to the United States.
Berger described his removal of the unique documents initially as “an honest mistake.” But as details emerged, courtesy of a report titled, Sandy Berger’s Theft of Classified Documents: Unanswered Questions (This is a PDF file) compiled by the US House Committee on Oversight & Government Reform, it became clear that Berger’s efforts were premeditated and tantamount to an attempt at obstructing the 9/11 Commission’s investigation.
Comparing the two cases, you would think that Sandy Berger would be in the cell next to ‘Scooter’ Libby, the one welcoming Libby into the minimum security federal corrections facility where the politically elite serve their time. Additionally, you would think that Berger would be the one wishing Libby well as he watched him walk out of prison after 30 months, Berger remaining to finish his sentence. But the US Judicial System isn’t that equitable, especially when politics is concerned.
Where Patrick Fitzgerald’s ego-driven investigation culminated in his need to charge someone to with something (an honest and thorough investigation could never result in no charges being filed, right?), those investigating Sandy Berger’s crime against the people of the United States were, it appears,motivated solely by political loyalty, having been placed in their positions by the Clinton Administration.
US Justice Department Inspector General Glenn Fine, Deputy Assistant US Attorney General Bruce Swartz, Chief of the USJD Counterterrorism Section John Dion and Howard Sklamberg, USJD trial attorney from the public integrity unit, were all principally involved in the Berger investigation and were all either appointed by Bill Clinton or were holdovers from the Clinton Administration.
As a result of the incredibly apathetic USJD investigation and prosecution of Sandy Berger’s theft and destruction of unique and classified documents from the National Archives, and as the result of a plea bargain authorized by the USJD, Berger agreed to a $10,000 fine, a revocation of his security clearance for three years and a lie detector test, which to this day has not been administered. This sentence was augmented by US Magistrate Judge Deborah Robinson who increased the fine to $50,000 and added two years probation and 100 hours of community service. Robinson said, “The court finds that the fine [recommended by government prosecutors] is inadequate because it doesn’t reflect the seriousness of the offense.”
Berger, additionally, forfeited his license to practice law to avoid being cross-examined about his illegal activities by the Board on Bar Counsel, a forfeiture that effectively ends any inquiry into Berger’s crimes.
In the end, ‘Scooter Libby’ will be spending the next two and a half years behind bars for not being able to correctly remember who committed the non-crime of not outing a non-covert CIA analyst whose recollections are as various as the media outlets and congressional fact finding committees she recounted them to. Meanwhile, Sandy Berger gets to have lunch at Spago whenever he wants and after he stole, then destroyed, unique and significant documents committed to the United States National Archives, documents pertaining to the most devastating slaughter of human beings on American soil ever.
The inequity of these two sentences, the egomaniacal piety of the investigations, both aggressive and apathetic, demonstrates that the legal system in the United States of America – and especially the US Justice Department – has been politicized to the point of corruption.
In an atmosphere where judicial veracity and the integrity of the prosecutorial process have been compromised, no justice can be found.
“Our country is now taking so steady a course as to show by what road it will pass to destruction, to wit: by consolidation [of power] first, and then corruption, its necessary consequence.”
– Thomas Jefferson
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Frank Salvato is the managing editor for The New Media Journal . He serves at the Executive Director of the Basics Project, a non-profit, non-partisan, 501(C)(3) research and education initiative. His pieces are regularly featured in over 100 publications both nationally and internationally. He has appeared on The O’Reilly Factor, and is a regular guest on The Right Balance with Greg Allen on the Accent Radio Network, as well as an occasional guest on numerous radio shows coast to coast. He recently partnered in producing the first-ever symposium on the threat of radical Islamist terrorism in Washington, DC. His pieces have been recognized by the House International Relations Committee and the Japan Center for Conflict. He can be contacted at oped@newmediajournal.us