Have we seen the tipping point for Congress? President Bush's commuting of Scooter Libby's sentence -- soon to be a pardon, based on signals coming from the president -- while anticipated, still seems incredible. We've gone from a president who promised to seek out and fire anyone responsible for the illegal exposure of a CIA covert agent to a president who is letting one of his own advisors and the assistant to the vice president off the hook after being convicted by a jury of creating enough obfuscation around the case to essentially stymie the investigation. It seems clear that Libby was the designated fall guy. If he kept his mouth shut, he would be protected. And the fact is, he did keep his mouth shut. Although the vice president was clearly implicated during the investigation and trial, Libby's artfully forgetful testimony ensured that the vice president would escape prosecution.
In 1973, President Nixon fired Watergate special prosecutor Archibald Cox to protect himself from having to release the Watergate tapes (which incriminated him and his staff). Cox had this to say at the time:
Whether ours shall be a government of laws and not of men is now for Congress and, ultimately, the American people.
Here at Common Cause, we are proud to say that
Archie Cox was on our National Governing Board for a quarter of a century, and was its chair from 1980 to 1992. In honor of his memory and on behalf of the American people, for the sake of our democracy on Independence Day, Congress should thoroughly investigate not only the case of the "outing of Valerie Plame" but the entire trail of lies that led our country into an ill-conceived and tragically costly war with Iraq.
It may not be convenient for Congress to undertake such a task now, but our elected representatives must remember that the United States' democracy and laws are not ours by convenience -- as those who signed the Declaration of Independence would readily attest.
