Is Scooter Libby A Scapegoat?

As most people probably now know, I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby has been found guilty on 4 of the 5 charges brought against him including perjury, lying to the FBI, and obstruction of justice. This all came about after he was implicated in a plot to leak a CIA agent’s name to get back at her husband who is a vocal critic of the Bush administration. Now there is talk of the President pardoning him, which would probably anger a great deal of people. It has been equated to Gerald Ford pardoning Richard Nixon after the Watergate Scandal, which caused outrage among the people. Senate majority leader Harry Reid has stated that “Now President Bush must pledge not to pardon Libby for his criminal conduct." Democratic Party Chairman Howard Dean later applauded the American legal system for doing “something the Bush administration hasn't, by holding Scooter Libby accountable for his illegal actions.” There appears to be a great deal of outrage among Democrats over this issue, which could cause a full blown investigation. President Bush can’t afford any more of a drop in popularity, so pardoning Libby will most likely not happen unless he simply doesn’t care about what the public thinks of him.

Since Libby was the Vice President’s chief of staff, the new question is this: Should those even higher up in the administration be prosecuted (or at least investigated) for similar charges, since it is quite obvious that Libby was simply a scapegoat? Harry Reid also commented on this question, stating that “Lewis Libby has been convicted of perjury, but his trial revealed deeper truths about Vice President Cheney's role in this sordid affair.” If this is the case, would Vice President Cheney be investigated and possibly brought to trial? Could President Bush somehow be implicated in this scandal? The repercussions of this verdict could bring down the entire administration with possible charges of violating the Intelligence Identities Protection Act for leaking the name of an undercover CIA agent. Now only time will tell whether this controversy will end with Scooter Libby or if it will go on up the ladder of power, but it has definitely been another sharp blow to the administration’s credibility, which seems to be a common happening nowadays.