by Tim Jones

Created on: February 14, 2007   Last Updated: April 19, 2007

I am continually amazed at the depth of the apathy in this country. The trial of Scooter Libby has been a fascinating peek behind the curtain of the most secretive and sinister administration I think we've seen in this nation's short history. Some of the revelations have been nothing short of astounding, and have gone a long way towards proving what a lot of us have thought all along; that George Bush is not calling the shots in this White House. And, that there is no length to the depths they will go to smear and slander their enemies.

As far as the consequences issue goes, we all know there will be none. Even if Libby is convicted, he will be pardoned shortly thereafter, and will go to work at Halliburton, or maybe a cushy Lobbying job on K street. No one is even being charged with the original crime of leaking the name of a covert CIA operative, because the republicans who wrote the statute intentionally wrote it so vague that no one could ever be convicted under this law, as was intended. The law was written after the Watergate scandal, part of the government reform that Dick Cheney has been foaming at the mouth about since the 1970's. It is intriguing to me how all of these things weave together to form the circumstances in which we find ourselves today.

Cheney, if you are not aware, was chief of staff for Nixon before he was Defense Secretary under Reagan/Bush. It was during this period that Cheney thought the powers of the Presidency had been weakened, in his view, and he has been trying to re-establish the power of the executive branch ever since. I find it strange that he doesn't seem to think that Watergate should have had this effect. I also find it odd that Cheney went from the Defense Department right into a job as CEO of the Halliburton defense contracting firm, where he built them into the largest defense contractor on the planet, then went right back to the White House where Halliburton has clearly made the most profit from our Middle Eastern adventures. You might think I'm implying a connection, and you would be correct.

Now, during the trial we have learned that Cheney's office was obsessed with Joe Wilson's refute of their pre-war intelligence. So much so that Cheney ordered transcripts of Chris Matthew's show "Hardball" because Matthews was equally as obsessed at proving there was a cover up here and was beating the drum every night. I think it has been pretty much proven without a doubt that Cheney, through Libby, ordered the release of classified information in an effort to discredit the former Ambassador, which in my view is treasonous.

Of course, the pundits will say, "no law was broken", and technically they're right. Outing a CIA agent is technically a crime, but the statute was written in such a way as to make it impossible to prove. Clever, huh? What do you expect from a government made up of attorneys? The only problem was, when their plans started to unravel, starting with the faulty intelligence and shady press dealings, they tried to blame it on the media. They knew the reporters would resist being called to testify, and thought it would just go away. They didn't count on the doggedness of Patrick Fitzgerald, and now their lies are coming back to haunt them.

But, like I said before, no one will pay. They ginned up this war and now 3,000 plus Americans and tens of thousands of Iraqis are dead, countless more maimed and wounded with no end in sight. I expected no less from these guys from day one, and the congress is a paper tiger. We've seen this story before with Vietnam, Iran Contra, etc. It's like a bad Hollywood sequel series that just won't go away. Criminals walk if they're part of the government, and get commentator jobs at Fox News.

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