International Herald Tribune Editorial - Soft on crime

International Herald Tribune Editorial - Soft on crime
Copyright by The International Herald Tribune
Published: July 3, 2007


When he was running for president, George W. Bush loved to contrast his law-abiding morality with that of President Bill Clinton, who was charged with perjury and acquitted. For Bush, the candidate, "politics, after a time of tarnished ideals, can be higher and better."

Not so for Bush, the president. Judging from his decision Monday to commute the 30-month sentence of I. Lewis Libby Jr. - who was charged with perjury and convicted - untarnished ideals are less of a priority than protecting the secrets of his inner circle and mollifying the tiny slice of right-wing Americans left in his political base.

Libby was convicted of lying to federal agents investigating the leak of the name of a covert CIA operative, Valerie Wilson. Her husband, Joseph Wilson, was asked to investigate a central claim in Bush's drive to war with Iraq - whether Iraq tried to purchase uranium from Africa. Wilson concluded that Iraq had not done that and had the temerity to share those conclusions with the American public. It seems clear from the record that Vice President Dick Cheney organized a campaign to discredit Wilson. And Libby, who was Cheney's chief of staff, was willing to lie to protect his boss.

All of this put immense pressure on the president to do something before Libby went to jail. But none of it was justification for the baldly political act of commuting his sentence.

Bush's assertion that he respected the verdict but considered the sentence excessive only underscored the way this president is tough on crime when it's committed by common folk. As governor of Texas, he was infamous for joking about the impending execution of Karla Faye Tucker, a killer who became a born-again Christian on death row. As president, he has repeatedly put himself and his team, especially Cheney, above the law.

Presidents have the power to grant clemency and pardons. But in this case, Bush did not sound like a leader making tough decisions about justice. He sounded like a man worried about what a former loyalist might say when actually staring into a prison cell.