Bush commutes Libby sentence

[Jester]

No. If we are talking about abuse of power. Bill Clinton has been the worst, and worse than Nixon (except that Watergate thing).

And I'm sure Reagan as well, except for that whole Iran-Contra thing... and everyone else, except for the very thing that would contradict the statement.

Some of Clinton's pardons were inexcusable, and that kind of cronyism cannot be tolerated. I have very little desire to apologize for Bill Clinton. But worse than Bush? Not a chance. Worse than Nixon? No way.

A pardon for slimy, well-connected lawbreakers is bad, but a pardon that reinforces the idea that administrations do not really have to cooperate with the courts is worse. Who cares if you lie under oath? Who cares if you withhold information from the very people you are elected to serve? The prez'll just throw a pardon your way, and you're done! Nixon was forgiven for his inexcusable crimes on much the same basis. It undermines the very principles of the rule of law.

The war in Kosovo hardly had my support. My rule was clear for the Iraq war, and it applies equally to Kosovo. Get the UN security council, make a real case for self-defense, or you're over the line. Again, not apologizing for Clinton, except insofar as to say he's a fair sight better than what you've got now.

However, from a less legal basis, the two wars (Kosovo and Iraq) were hardly similar. For starters, one war already existed, and massacres were a regular feature of the war. It was, in short, a humanitarian crisis. Intervention in that region was intended to stop the violence, not to start it. In Iraq, there was no war, there had been no war for over a decade, and there were obvious routes to preventing war that the US deliberately frustrated.

Blowing Kosovo to pieces was inhuman and stupid, and the resulting tragedy forms a large part of my loathing for Clinton. I would not hesitate to recommend he be brought before an international war crimes trbunal for that war, so long as we were being consistent about it, and did the same for the Iraq war. In terms of the damage it did, though, both to the US and to humanity at large, Kosovo was a much lesser thing than Iraq.

-Jester