Commuting a sentence

President Bush's recent decision to commute the prison sentence of Lewis "Scooter" Libby raises some interesting questions. These questions are further compounded by Bush's statement that he has not yet ruled out a full pardon.

As has been established, Libby was convicted for lying about leaking the identity of a CIA operative, Valerie Plame. At the time, the President stated that when he found out who was responsible for the leak, the person or persons would be fired. As the drama has played out, it has become clear that Libby and Karl Rove had done so, yet neither was fired. Further, the same President who so strongly believes in the "rule of law" and that we are a "nation of laws" that he turned down a request by the Pope to stop the execution of a Texas woman for murder, has quickly stepped in to limit the punishment that he feels has been so unfairly meted-out to Libby.

The President's actions are curious, to say the least. When one considers that it is a felony to expose the identity of an active CIA operative, one wonders where the push was from the White House to ensure that the Department of Justice moved to punish those leaking the identity of Ms Plame. Further, considering that this administration has gone well out of it's way to emphasize that the operations of the CIA and other Intelligence Agencies is vital to our national security, it would seem the Administration would be exercising extreme vigilance in protecting the individuals who, in many cases, risk their lives to carry out that goal.

Unless, of course, it becomes more important to protect one's own "reputation" in which case smearing Joseph Wilson for the crime of disagreeing with the Administration's assessment of Iraq's attempt to obtain nuclear weapons is an acceptable reason for exposing an agent. Then, it seems, all things are possible. One wonders what the incentive is for anyone to enter the Intelligence branches of our government if they cannot be sure that in the name of political expediency, their identities will be exposed to the general public and to those who they are working to protect us from.