[Mb-civic] Fw: Gangster governnment: Little George meets Little Rico

[Patrick Hunter]

Give Greg Palast credit, this info about the president and the 
"declassification" has been out for days.  Greg is the first to point out 
what should have been obvious.  There is no crime in leaking information 
that is not classified.   There are plenty of other crimes here, as he 
points out.  Still, what about outing the CIA agent?
This would be a historical first: impeaching the president and the 
vice-president at once.  One good thing is that we wouldn't have to have 
Cheney as the president.  The next in-line would be Speaker of the House 
Dennis Hastert, then the Speaker pro-tem Ted Stevens of Alaska.  I guess 
Stevens would be Vice President.
 I'm not going to hold my breath.
Pat


> GANGSTER GOVERNMENT
> A LEAKY PRESIDENT RUNS AFOUL OF 'LITTLE RICO'
> Buzzflash
> by Greg Palast
> Sunday, April 9, 2006
>
> It's a crime. No kidding. But the media has it all wrong. As usual.
>
> '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 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 February 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 appropriate 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.
>
> Why'd they do it? The White House junta did the deed for the most evil of 
> motives: to hoodwink the public during the 2004 election campaign, to 
> pretend that evil anti-Bush elements were undermining the Republic, when 
> it was the Bush element itself at the center of the conspiracy. (Notably, 
> elections trickery also motivated Richard Nixon's "plumbers" to break into 
> the Watergate, then the Democratic Party campaign headquarters.)
>
> 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. Furthermore, 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 gets 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 Rico'), the combination of these crimes makes the Bush executive 
> branch a "racketeering enterprise."
>
> So, book'm, Dan-o. Time to read The POTUS and The Veep their rights.
>
> After setting their bail (following the impeachments and removals, of 
> course), a judge will have a more intriguing matter to address. The RICO 
> law requires the Feds to seize all "ill-gotten gains" of a racketeering 
> enterprise, even before trial. Usually we're talking fast cars and diamond 
> bling. But in this case, the conspirators' purloined booty includes a 
> stolen election and a fraudulently obtained authorization for war. I see 
> no reason why a judge could not impound the 82d Airborne as "fruits of the 
> fraud " -- lock, stock and gun barrels -- and bring the boys home.
>
> And if justice is to be done we will will also have to run yellow tape 
> across the gates at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue -- "CRIME SCENE - DO NOT 
> ENTER" -- and return the White House to its rightful owners, the American 
> people, the victims of this gangster government.
>
> **********
> Former racketeering investigator Greg Palast is author of "ARMED MADHOUSE: 
> Dispatches from the Front Lines of the Class War," to be released in June. 
> Subscribe to the new podcast of our columns at www.GregPalast.com
>
>
>
>
>
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