Fooling the American People

It turns out that the American people are not quite as stupid, mindless, apathetic or inattentive as the White house hoped and imagined. The latest evidence is the guilty verdict in the “Scooter” Libby perjury and obstruction of justice case just concluded. One of the jurors characterized the feelings and belief of the jury that Libby was “the fall guy” for the Bush administration, but that he was still guilty of the charges of obstruction and perjury.

The jury and the American people have figured out that they were deliberately lied to and duped into support for a war in Iraq that was never based upon any valid, much less compelling, evidence of a threat to America. When the web of lies began to unravel and the prevaricators exposed, the effort to silence critics and retaliate against those who would expose the duplicity led to a violation of the law in outing a CIA covert cooperative, Valerie Plame. There is no longer basis for reasonable doubt about the involvement of the White House, up to and including Vice President Cheney, in the willful violation of that law.

The aftermath of the guilty verdict is no cause for joy, however. Another issue which the public has figured out is that, in the current political climate, the ones responsible for the more egregious crime will not be held accountable. Prosecutor Fitzgerald has stated that he will file no more charges relating to the Plame Leak Investigation. Former CIA covert operatives have pointed out that the message taken away from these events is that, if you are a covert operative in the field, it is unlikely that you will be exposed and risk loss of your life. However, if high level officials think it is politically expedient to put you at such risk, there will be no negative consequences for their doing so.

The Boston Globe editorial sections stated in today’s edition:

Fitzgerald said the American people would know more about the "cloud over the vice president" and "the cloud over the White House" if Libby had provided straight answers. Now Cheney can lift that cloud by giving the public some straight answers of his own.

The American people won’t be betting on this false hope. They know that pigs don’t fly. And that is when Cheney will come forward and tell the public the truth.