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Libby outrage: Bush defended
03/07/2007 23:03 - (SA)
Stephen Collinson
Washington - The White House on Tuesday dismissed a storm of political outrage about President George W Bush's decision to spare former top aide Lewis "Scooter" Libby a 2½ year jail term.
President Bush insisted he had made the right decision and refused to rule out an eventual full pardon for Libby, a day after commuting the sentence handed down after a trial bound up in the drive to war with Iraq.
As well as flak from Democrats, President Bush faced the ire of conservatives angry that he had not wiped out the conviction entirely for Libby, once a trusted former member of
Vice-President Dick Cheney's inner circle.
"I thought that the verdict should stand, I felt that the punishment was severe," Bush told reporters on Tuesday.
"As to the future, I rule nothing in or nothing out," said President Bush, when asked whether Libby could ever benefit from a full presidential pardon.
'Hardly a slap on the wrist'
White House spokesperson Tony Snow rejected claims Libby was getting off lightly, after he was convicted of obstructing an investigation into the outing of CIA spy Valerie Plame, wife of a vehement critic of the administration about Iraq.
"This is hardly a slap on the wrist, in terms of penalty. It is a very severe penalty," said Snow, noting Libby still faced a $250 000 fine, two years of probation and was saddled with a felony conviction.
"The president also believes, for those who are arguing "Scooter" Libby was tried before a jury of his peers."
Democrats kept up the heat on the White House seeking political advantage from President Bush's move.
"I'm outraged," senior Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer told supporters.
"President Bush commuted Scooter Libby's prison sentence, wiping away 2½ years of jail time with the stroke of a pen.
"We expect more from our president. We expect honour and integrity; we expect moral leadership."
Rationale for the Iraq war
The Wall Street Journal, which normally takes a conservative line on its editorial page, warned that President Bush had evaded responsibility on the Libby case - by not granting a full pardon.
"Mr Libby deserved better from a president whose policies he tried to defend when others were running for cover," said the Wall Street Journal.
Snow interpreted the fact that Bush was also being "pounded from the right" as proof his move was not made for shallow political gain.
President Bush's critics claim Libby was part of a White House effort to punish former US ambassador Joseph Wilson, who was sent by the CIA to Niger in February 2002 to investigate claims that Saddam Hussein tried to buy uranium for nuclear bombs.
Wilson later criticised the administration's rationale for the Iraq war, and a probe was launched into whether top Bush aides deliberately blew Plame's cover as revenge.
Democrats reacted swiftly on Monday to news of President Bush's move.
Seek to preserve those convictions
"The president's commutation of Scooter Libby's prison sentence does not serve justice, condones criminal conduct, and is a betrayal of trust of American people," said House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi.
"The president's decision to commute Mr Libby's sentence is disgraceful," said senator Majority Reid.
Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald, who brought the case, disputed Bush's use of the term "excessive," stressing that Libby "remains convicted by a jury of serious felonies, and we will continue to seek to preserve those convictions through the appeals process".
Wilson added :"I would remind people that this is the president who was governor of Texas (and) refused to commute the first death sentence of a female prisoner, even after the Pope pleaded for clemency."
New York senator and 2008 presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton said the Bush administration "simply considers itself above the law" adding that the president's move showed his "administration has no regard whatsoever for what needs to be held sacred".
- SAPA
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