Appalling WSJ article: Libby is a "fallen soldier" in war, plead with Bush to not leave him behind

[ProSense]

AT WAR

Fallen Soldier

Mr. President, do not leave this man behind.

BY FOUAD AJAMI
Friday, June 8, 2007 12:01 a.m. EDT

Mr. President, some weeks ago, I wrote a letter of appeal, a character reference, to Judge Reggie B. Walton, urging leniency for I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby. Scooter, I said, has seen the undoing of his world, but he comes before a "just court in a just and decent country." I was joined by men and women of greater acclaim in our public life, but the petitions were in vain. Now the legal process has played out, Judge Walton has issued a harsh prison term of 30 months, and what will rescue this honorable man is the power of pardon that is exclusively yours.

This case has been, from the start, about the Iraq war and its legitimacy. Judge Walton came to it late; before him were laid bare the technical and narrowly legalistic matters of it. But you possess a greater knowledge of this case, a keen sense of the man caught up in this storm, and of the great contest and tensions that swirl around the Iraq war. To Scooter's detractors, and yours, it was the "sin" of that devoted public servant that he believed in the nobility of this war, that he did not trim his sails, and that he didn't duck when the war lost its luster.

In "The Soldier's Creed," there is a particularly compelling principle: "I will never leave a fallen comrade." This is a cherished belief, and it has been so since soldiers and chroniclers and philosophers thought about wars and great, common endeavors. Across time and space, cultures, each in its own way, have given voice to this most basic of beliefs. They have done it, we know, to give heart to those who embark on a common mission, to give them confidence that they will not be given up under duress. A process that yields up Scooter Libby to a zealous prosecutor is justice gone awry.

Mr. President, the one defining mark of your own moral outlook is the distinction between friend and foe, a refusal to be lulled into moral and political compromises. Your critics have made much of this and have seen it as self-righteousness and moral absolutism, but this has guided you through the great, divisive issues faced by our country over these last, searing years. Scooter Libby was a soldier in your--our--war in Iraq, he was chief of staff to a vice president who had become a lightning rod to the war's critics. He didn't sit around the councils of power only to make the rounds in Georgetown's salons insinuating that this was not his war all along. He didn't claim this war when it promised an easy victory only to desert it when it stalled in the alleyways of Fallujah and Baghdad and in the twilight world of Arab politics. You are not a lawyer, Mr. President, nor is the vast populace out there. The men and women who entrusted you with the presidency, I dare say, are hard pressed to understand why former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage, who was the admitted leaker of Mrs. Wilson's identity to columnist Robert Novak, has the comforts of home and freedom and privilege while Scooter Libby faces the dreaded prospect of imprisonment.

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Note to jerk who wrote this article:

These are the fallen soldiers -- the 3,504 killed since the illegal invasion of Iraq, including the the 27 dead in June thus far, and the wounded:

[hobbit709]

1. To the WSJ

:puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke:

[hatrack]

2. Of course it's appalling - it's the WSJ editorial page

I mean, seriously, did you seriously expect anything NON-puke-inducing?

[ProSense]

3. Regardless, it's appalling!

If I could call them out more publicly, I would.

[MidwestTransplant]

4. Yes all the little Chickenhawks are such brave little warriors. Doing the tough job while the toops

in battle have it easy.

[madrchsod]

5. he`s a really interesting player in the game

he`s great at telling people in power what they want to hear...

[L. Coyote]

6. RESPONSE SENT n/t

[originalpckelly]

7. These people have a lot of fucking nerve to try this bullshit.

Not only do they do something really wrong, then they want a get out of jail free card, in violation of the tradition of giving pardons, because no one it admitting Libby's guilt.

[tabasco]

8. Another neocon idiot with no military service.

How he blathers on about the Soldier's Creed. This POS knows NOTHING about being a soldier.

Just another cowardly chickenhawk. BWAAAAK!! BWAAAAAK!!

[spanone]

9. B U L L S H I T fallen soldier MY ASS....CONVICTED FELON.

[Demeter]

10. Harsh Sentence? DEATH Is a Harsh Sentence!

30 months is nothing--barely enough time to develop some remorse, or at least caution, over following Cheney off a cliff....

[Atman]

11. "a just court in a just and decent country."

Both made considerably more UN-just because of the actions of Scooter Libby.

Lock the fucker up. He got a very lenient sentence for a treasonous bastard, imho.

.

[Supersedeas]

12. Irony check -- getting caught lying to get us into an unnecessary war makes

Libby a fallen soldier...meanwhile real fallen soldiers get no pardon from their injuries and the mistakes made by chickenhawks.

Chickenhawk logic never fails to amaze.

[Cassandra]

13. I used to respect Fouad Ajami

Guess I don't have to bother with that anymore.

[muriel_volestrangler]

16. Really? When was he respectable?

As for the reaction of the Arab "street," the Middle East expert Professor Fouad Ajami predicts that after liberation, the streets in Basra and Baghdad are "sure to erupt in joy in the same way the throngs in Kabul greeted the Americans."

Cheney, August 2002

The record seems to have shown him to have been an enthusiastic cheerleader for the Iraq invasion all the way through. He was also stupid enough to think the streets of Iraq would erupt in joy - or dishonest enough to claim it when he knew it wouldn't be true.

[devilgrrl]

18. Uh, this is a man who regarded "Shock and Awe" on the Iraqi people as a "gift"

This man is NOT respectable.

[ProSense]

14. Kick! n/t

[autorank]

15. K*R This is one case where a Murdoch take over may iimprove things.

He wants to buy WSJ and has also back peddled on being such a right wing enabler, which means he thinks power will shift.

Excellent point about the totally inappropriate use of "soldier" to describe Libby, as he caused so much harm to so many.

[SergeyDovlatov]

17. They do need to rename themselves to War Street Journal

... since supporting and agitating for the war seems like their new mission (as of 2002)

[opihimoimoi]

19. Don't that Ajami guy know Bush don't read much less comprehend??? LOL

Silly Dude....Ya just wasted a stamp.....