Tuesday, November 01, 2005

NYT: "Cheney Fills Posts of Indicted Former Aide" (Richard W. Stevenson)

Richard W. Stevenson informs the reader that it takes two people to replace an indicted disgrace. In "Cheney Fills Posts of Indicted Former Aide," David S. Addington and John P. Hannah are the two people. From the article:


Mr. Addington was referred to by job title in the indictment of Mr. Libby on Friday, and appears likely to be called as a witness should Mr. Libby's case go to trial. The indictment referred to a conversation Mr. Libby held with the vice president's counsel on July 8, 2003, in which Mr. Libby asked what paperwork the Central Intelligence Agency might keep if an employee's spouse took an overseas trip.
At the time, according to the indictment, Mr. Libby was compiling information about a trip to Africa undertaken by a former diplomat, Joseph C. Wilson IV, whose wife, Valerie Wilson, was a C.I.A. officer. Ms. Wilson's identity was later made public, leading to an investigation into whether administration officials had leaked her name.
Randall Samborn, a spokesman for the special prosecutor, Patrick J. Fitzgerald, said Mr. Addington was the counsel referred to in the indictment. Mr. Addington was not charged with any wrongdoing.
Mr. Hannah was not referred to in the indictment, but like most of Mr. Cheney's aides, was questioned during the investigation. Mr. Hannah's lawyer, Thomas Green, told Newsweek last week that Mr. Hannah was not a target of Mr. Fitzgerald's investigation and "knew nothing" about the leak. Mr. Green was out of the country on Monday and did not return a call to his office.


Restoring the tone in DC apparently.

Zach notes Elaine Cassel's "A Moment of Truth" (CounterPunch):

The media is filled with Republican pundits, right-wring Christians, and arrogant politicians lambasting Patrick Fitzgerald for prosecuting Scooter Libby for lying to the FBI and the grand jury. Not a "real" crime, sniffs Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, who, surely, being from Texas, must know a lot about lies. Big lies, and how to tell them.
Why is it that these Republicans choose not to embrace the truth, and telling the truth, as a revered "family value" or American "virtue"?
It's because lying is part and parcel of their overarching policy--a policy that is to its core, aggressive, yet weak, self-serving and subversive, manipulative, and antisocial.
Though much research has been devoted to detecting deception, almost no one has studied the psychology of lying. Patrick Fitzgerald eloquently stated that lying is antithetical to the workings of the civil or criminal justice system. As a lawyer, nothing is more odious to me than a lying client, judge, cop, juror, or witness. They mock the entire legal system. They attack it, they subvert it. They derail justice.


Remember to listen, watch or read Democracy Now! today. Amy Goodman has an appearance coming up tomorrow that we'll note later today. (Yes, I'm still sick.)

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