Pardoning Scooter Libby is Trump's swampiest decision
April 13, 2018
On the campaign trail in 2015 and 2016, Donald Trump railed against the Iraq War (never mind his support for the 2003 invasion), beat up on the Bush family political dynasty and, with three words that pulled together all that and more, promised to "drain the swamp" in Washington.
A couple years on, the bog remains thick with the creatures Trump promised to drive out. He's even introduced some new breeds. But there is nothing that Trump or his lieutenants have done that comes close, in sheer fetid swampiness, to pardoning the criminal former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney, Lewis "Scooter" Libby, a move the White House made official on Friday.
Concluding that Cheney's office had dismissed evidence, turned up by Wilson, that dented the case for invading Iraq, Wilson concluded his piece by writing: "The act of war is the last option of a democracy, taken when there is a grave threat to our national security. More than 200 American soldiers have lost their lives in Iraq already. We have a duty to ensure that their sacrifice came for the right reasons."
Fifteen years on, nearly 5,000 US service members are among the Iraq War dead. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis were killed. The violence continues to this day, most notably as part of the fight to permanently uproot ISIS.
Libby was one of the leading proponents of the war. President George W. Bush spared him from serving prison time, commuting a 30-month sentence, deeming it "excessive." From there, a long campaign -- spearheaded by Libby's powerful friends in Washington's permanent ruling class -- began its work. Among the more vocal Libby defenders, according to The New York Times, is new Trump national security adviser John Bolton.
Hours after word came down on Friday, a spokesman for Bush said of the pardon, "President Bush is very pleased for Scooter and his family."
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