January 31, 2007

IMPEACH BUSH


IMPEACH CHENEY

BUSH LINKED TO PLAME OUTING

Right-wingers like to throw around the word "treason" at anyone who doesn't support the war in Iraq. Former Attorney General John Ashcroft and other members of the Bush administration have suggested that any dissent from the war gives aid to the terrorists. I wonder how right-wingers who have backed this war will react to the apparent link between George W. Bush and the outing of CIA operative Valerie Plame. Outing Ms. Plame compromised intelligence vital to the security of the United States. It has emerged in the trial of I. Lewis Libby that Bush may have been directly involved in outing Plame. This story by Jason Leopold and Marc Ash is at www.truthout.org:

Copies of handwritten notes by Vice President Dick Cheney, introduced at trial by defense attorneys for former White House staffer I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, would appear to implicate George W. Bush in the Plame CIA Leak case.

Bush has long maintained that he was unaware of attacks by any member of his administration against [former ambassador Joseph] Wilson. The ex-envoy's stinging rebukes of the administration's use of pre-war Iraq intelligence led Libby and other White House officials to leak Wilson's wife's covert CIA status to reporters in July 2003 in an act of retaliation.

But Cheney's notes, which were introduced into evidence Tuesday during Libby's perjury and obstruction-of-justice trial, call into question the truthfulness of President Bush's vehement denials about his prior knowledge of the attacks against Wilson. The revelation that Bush may have known all along that there was an effort by members of his office to discredit the former ambassador begs the question: Was the president also aware that senior members of his administration compromised Valerie Plame's undercover role with the CIA?

Further, the highly explicit nature of Cheney's comments not only hints at a rift between Cheney and Bush over what Cheney felt was the scapegoating of Libby, but also raises serious questions about potentially criminal actions by Bush. If Bush did indeed play an active role in encouraging Libby to take the fall to protect Karl Rove, as Libby's lawyers articulated in their opening statements, then that could be viewed as criminal involvement by Bush.

Last week, Libby's attorney Theodore Wells made a stunning pronouncement during opening statements of Libby's trial. He claimed that the White House had made Libby a scapegoat for the leak to protect Karl Rove - Bush's political adviser and "right-hand man."

WE'LL MISS MOLLY

Firebrand columnist Molly Ivins died today of breast cancer. Molly was one of the most perceptive and wittiest columnists I've ever read. I thought in the early years of the Bush administration she was too soft on Bush. She talked about his time as Governor of Texas and that he was personable. But, in general, her commentaries have been right on target. This article by Kelley Shannon is at www.commondreams.org:

Best-selling author and columnist Molly Ivins, the sharp-witted liberal who skewered the political establishment and referred to President Bush as "Shrub," has died after a long battle with breast cancer, the managing editor of the Texas Observer said Wednesday. Ivins was 62.

The writer, who made a living poking fun at Texas politicians, whether they were in her home base of Austin or the White House, revealed in early 2006 that she was being treated for breast cancer for the third time.

More than 400 newspapers subscribed to her nationally syndicated column, which combined strong liberal views and populist-toned humor. Ivins' illness did not seem to hurt her ability to deliver biting one-liners.

"I'm sorry to say (cancer) can kill you but it doesn't make you a better person," she said in an interview with the San Antonio Express-News in September 2006, the same month cancer claimed her friend former Gov. Ann Richards.