Bush Sets Libby Free,
Celebrates 4 Years of Success in Iraq
July 2, 2007
Days before Vice President Cheney's former chief of staff, I. Lewis Libby, was to begin serving a two and a half year jail term, President Bush took the only possible action open to a Republican law-and-order hypocrite. He set him free. Libby's only crime, after all, had been lying under oath to protect his boss from any involvement in leaking the name of CIA agent Valerie Plame to the press.
Perjury is not as heinous a crime now as it was in 1998, when the GOP majority in Congress impeached President Clinton for lying under oath.
Bush's ignoble action comes one day before he quietly marks one of his more macho moments: urging Iraqis opposed to the U.S. occupation of their country to just try to attack U.S. soldiers.
July 3, 2003
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Challenging militants who attack U.S. forces in Iraq, President Bush said Wednesday they would be dealt with harshly, and declared, "Bring 'em on."
For the second day in a row, Bush vowed that attacks on U.S. troops in Iraq will not shake his administration's resolve to stay in that country until a strong and stable democratic government takes root.
"Anybody who wants to harm American troops will be found and brought to justice," Bush said. "There are some that feel like if they attack us that we may decide to leave prematurely. They don't understand what they are talking about if that is the case. Let me finish. There are some who feel like the conditions are such that they can attack us there. My answer is, bring 'em on."
When Bush made his Bring 'Em On taunt, 254 U.S. soldiers had died in Iraq.
On the fourth anniversary of his unfortunate remark, the U.S. death toll was 3,584.
