The case against our leaky president

BY GREG PALAST

It’s a crime. No kidding. But the [major] media has it all wrong. ‘Scooter’ Libby finally outed ‘Mr. Big,’ the perpetrator of the heinous disclosure of the name of secret agent Valerie Plame. It was the President of the United States himself—in conspiracy with his Vice President. Now the pundits are arguing over whether our war-a-holic President had the legal right to leak this national security information. But, that’s a fake debate meant to distract you.

OK, let’s accept the White House alibi that releasing Plame’s identity was no crime. But if that’s true, they’ve committed a bigger crime: Bush and Cheney knowingly withheld vital information from a grand jury investigation, a multimillion dollar inquiry the perps themselves authorized. That’s akin to calling in a false fire alarm or calling the cops for a burglary that never happened—but far, far worse. Let’s not forget that in the hunt for the perpetrator of this non-crime, reporter Judith Miller went to jail.

Think about that. While Miller sat in a prison cell, Bush and Cheney were laughing their sick heads off, knowing the grand jury testimony, the special prosecutor’s subpoenas and the FBI’s terrorizing newsrooms were nothing but fake props in Bush’s elaborate charade, Cheney’s big con.

On Feb. 10, 2004, our not-so-dumb-as-he-sounds President stated, “Listen, I know of nobody—I don’t know of anybody in my administration who leaked classified information. If somebody did leak classified information, I’d like to know it, and we’ll take the appropiate action. And this investigation is a good thing. …And if people have got solid information, please come forward with it.”

Notice Bush’s cleverly crafted words. He says he can’t name anyone who leaked this “classified” info—knowing full well he’d de-classified it. Far from letting Bush off the hook, it worsens the crime. For years, I worked as a government investigator and, let me tell you, Bush and Cheney withholding material information from the grand jury is a felony. Several felonies, actually: abuse of legal process, fraud, racketeering and, that old standby, obstruction of justice.
If you or I had manipulated the legal system this way, we’d be breaking rocks on a chain gang. We wouldn’t even get a trial—most judges would consider this a “fraud upon the court” and send us to the slammer in minutes using the bench’s power to administer instant punishment for contempt of the judicial system.
Let me draft the indictment for you as I would have were I still a “government gumshoe.”

“Perpetrator Lewis Libby (alias ‘Scooter’) contacted Miller, while John Doe 1 contacted perpetrators’ shill at the Washington Post, Bob Woodward, in furtherance of a scheme directed by George Bush (alias ‘The POTUS’) and Dick Cheney (alias, ‘The Veep’) to release intelligence information fraudulently proffered as ‘classified,’ and thereinafter, knowingly withheld material evidence from a grand jury empanelled to investigate said disclosure. Furthermor, perpetrator ‘The POTUS’ made material statements designed to deceive investigators and knowingly misrepresent his state of knowledge of the facts.”
Statements aimed at misleading grand jury investigators are hard-time offenses. It doesn’t matter that Bush’s too-clever little quip was made to the press and not under oath. I’ve cited press releases and comments in the New York Times in court as evidence of fraud. By not swearing to his disingenuous statement, Bush got off the perjury hook, but he committed a crime nonetheless, “deliberate concealment.”

Here’s how the law works (and hopefully, it will): The Bush gang’s use of the telephone in this con game constituted wire fraud. Furthermore, while presidents may leak (“declassify”) intelligence information, they may not obstruct justice; that is, send a grand jury on a wild goose chase. Under the ‘RICO’ statute (named after the Edward G. Robinson movie mobster, “Little Caesar,”) the combination of these crimes makes the Bush executive branch a “racketeering enterprise.” So, book ‘em, Dan-o. Time to read The POTUS and The Veep their rights. And if justice is to be done we will also have to run yellow tape across the gates at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue—“CRIME SCENE—DO NOT CROSS”—and return the White House to its rightful owners, the American people, the victims of this gangster government.

Former racketeering investigator Greg Palast is the author of “ARMED MADHOUSE: Dispatches from the Front Lines of the Class War,” to be released in June.