Perverting
the
quality
of mercy
By
SHEILAH
PEPPER
The
Gazette
Staff
One of
my
favorite
web
sites,
Power
Line,
has
taken
note of
a recent
editorial
in the
Los
Angeles
Times
that
brought
back
some
memories
of the
initial
conflict
in
Afghanistan.
The
editorial
basically
tries to
make the
argument
that
because
President
Bush
commuted
Scooter
Libby’s
jail
sentence,
he
should
therefore
extend
clemency
to John
Walker
Lindh.
If
you’re
wondering
who
Lindh
is, he
is the
American
Muslim
convert
found at
Mazar I
Sharif
in
Afghanistan
before
and
following
the
uprising
of some
Taliban
and Al
Qaeda
prisoners.
He is
currently
serving
a
20-year
prison
sentence
following
a plea
bargain.
In a
detailed
Grand
Jury
indictment,
Lindh
was
facing a
likely
treason
charge
for
staying
with the
Taliban
group
and
conducting
a
betrayal
operation
that
ended
with CIA
operative
Johnny
Michael
Spann
dead.
As the
Afghan
commander
gradually
began to
quell
the
uprising,
it was
Lindh
who
emerged
from the
prison
basement
to
negotiate
on
behalf
of the
jihadis.
Scooter
Libby
served
honorably
as
Assistant
to the
Vice
President
for
national
Security.
In the
words
used on
Power
Line,
“He was
among
those
leaders
charged
with
keeping
this
country
safe
from the
likes of
John
Lindh
after
September
11th. He
and his
colleagues
performed
that
task
flawlessly.
Yet it
is not
Libby’s
public
service
that
merits
clemency,
in the
Time’s
view; on
the
contrary!
That
clemency
was
misguided
at best.
In the
world of
the Los
Angeles
Times –
which I
think
can be
fairly
seen as
the
world of
American
liberalism
– Libby
should
be fed
to the
wolves,
while
mercy
should
be
reserved
for the
disciple
of bin
Laden
who
participated
in the
murders
of an
American
officer
and a
number
of
allied
Afghans.
This
sums up
quite
well, I
think,
the
perverse
world
view
that
contemporary
liberalism
has
become.”
Libby
contended
he had a
faulty
memory
of some
events
involving
former
CIA
employee
Valery
Plame –
a likely
circumstance
for
someone
who was
fielding
hundreds
of
conversations
every
day. My
belief
is that
he was
railroaded,
in front
of a
Grand
Jury
panel,
by an
over-zealous
prosecutor.
Ms.
Plume
and her
husband
were
known to
be
adversaries
of
President
Bush.
A judge
recently
threw
out a
civil
case
they
mounted
over
this
affair.
But it’s
scary to
think
that
political
objectives
can now
be
accomplished
by using
our
legal
system.
The
President
was
obviously
correct
to
commute
Libby’s
unfair
sentence.
The
press
went
ballistic,
but they
said not
a word
when
President
Clinton,
on
leaving
office,
pardoned
a fraud
felon
who was
on the
lam in
Switzerland
avoiding
extradition.
His
friend’s
wife
remained
in the
U.S.,
contributing
heavily
to the
Clinton
war
chest.
The Los
Angeles
Times
has
regularly
carried
heavy
water
for
Democrat
candidates.
But for
a major
newspaper
to, in
any way,
compare
Scoot
Libby’s
service
to his
country
with the
murderous
activities
of John
Walker
Lindh
against
his own
country
men is
flat out
shameful.
Copyright©2007SheilahPepper
