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Posted on Tuesday 5 June 2007


President Bush feels "terrible" for the family of I. Lewis Libby but does not intend to intervene now in the case of the former top aide to Vice President Dick Cheney who was sentenced to prison Tuesday, the White House said.

Bush was informed by aides of Libby’s sentencing in Washington to 2 1/2 years in prison after he got on Air Force One to fly from the Czech Republic to Germany for the G-8 summit of industrialized nations.

White House Deputy Press Secretary Dana Perino came back on the president’s aircraft to relay Bush’s reaction to the sentence.

"The president said he felt terrible for the family, especially for his wife and kids," Perino said.

"He says he feels terrible for them, he’s sorry for all that they’re going through," she added. Asked if Bush included Libby in the statement, Perino replied, "Yes."

She said that he would not comment any further at this time.

Bush was informed of the sentence just after Air Force One took off from Prague for Germany. He was given the news by chief of staff Joshua Bolten and senior counselor Dan Bartlett.

"The president has not intervened so far in this or any other criminal matter, so he’s going to decline to do so now as well," Perino said.

Bush has made no secret of his fondness for Libby who was a presidential aide as well as chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney.

The president, who leaves office on Jan 20, 2009, has never ruled out a pardon for Libby.
At a time when we have Army Reservists spending longer than 2 1/2 years fighting in a war that should never have been, leaving their parents, wives, and young children to spend each day wondering if their soldier will be on the casualty list today, I find this great outpouring of feeling from Mr. Bush about Scooter Libby ingenuous at best. At a time when Iraqis are mourning daily in their chaotic death-ridden country, I find President Bush’s compassion for someone headed for White Collar prison misplaced. At a time when his Administration has made a mockery of our justice system at the DoJ and in the Supreme Court, I find his comments devoid of anything a President ought to say about a justice proceeding. At a time when his Vice President’s Chief of Staff is convicted of a crime against the country, I find his failure to mention that crime, or the complicity of his Vice President in that crime, pitiful…

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