Positive Universe Abstracts

How far up the White House food chain does this scandal go? Sunday Herald, UK What we think

The storm breaking over the White House this weekend over the indictment of the vice-president’s chief of staff, Lewis “Scooter” Libby will be uncomfortable. Criticised over its pathetic response to Hurricane Katrina, and trying to survive the difficult milestone of 2000 troops killed in Iraq, the Bush administration has now seen one of its senior aides indicted, the first such to endure the dishonour in more than 130 years. Now other questions are beginning to be asked, in particular: just how far up the White House food chain does this affair go?

Most liberal minds are already made up. Through intelligence available since the formal end of the Iraq war in 2003, there is widespread belief that the White House lied about the case for war on Iraq. And as with any untruth, the difficulty of a formal cover-up becomes evermore difficult. The two-year inquiry by Patrick Fitzgerald and his investigators at the US department of justice shows the lengths the Bush administration appeared to be prepared to go to in order to silence those who challenged its authority.

The indictment against Libby, prepared after a long investigation, has led many in Washington to believe the case that will come before him in a trial will be substantial. But at least he will have the opportunity of a fair trial. Before flying to Camp David last week, President Bush put his faith in the US justice system. “Each individual is presumed innocent and entitled to due process and a fair trial,” he said. And on this the president is correct. However, which part of his selective memory allows him to filter out the situation faced in Guantanamo Bay by foreign detainees who are currently receiving no due process, no fair trial and no presumption of innocence? It has to be assumed that President Bush believes there is one law for those of the elevated Washington elite around him, and another for those unfortunate enough to have fallen foul of US authority abroad and been shipped to Guantanamo.

If that same selective application of the law has been at epidemic levels in and around the Bush administration, we can expect to see more people indicted in the fallout from the Fitzgerald inquiry. [more]

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