John Nichols: Hold Dick Cheney to Account (The Nation)

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BLOG | Posted 03/07/2007 @ 3:53pm
Hold Dick Cheney to Account

John Nichols

The conviction of Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff on charges of obstruction of justice, perjury and lying to the FBI confirms the suspicions that millions of Americans have had for years about the lawlessness of this administration.

And the focus of the Libby trial on a particular aspect of that lawlessness -- the determination of the administration to punish critics of the manipulation of intelligence to make the "case" for invading and occupying Iraq – means that these convictions go to the heart of the current debates about how to end that war and about how to hold those responsible for it to account.

Make no mistake about what has happened: An essential member of the Bush-Cheney administration has been convicted of attempting to undermine a Federal Bureau of Investigation inquiry into scheming by the vice president and others to punish former Ambassador Joe Wilson for revealing that statements made before the start of the war by the president and others were in conflict with intelligence that had been provided to the White House.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, got it right when he said: "It's about time someone in the Bush Administration has been held accountable for the campaign to manipulate intelligence and discredit war critics." .....(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.thenation.com/blogs/notion?pid=172656