Joe Wilson: Springing Libby Shows Administration Is "Corrupt to the Core"
    Editor & Publisher

    Tuesday 03 July 2007

    New York - Former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, husband of outed CIA operative Valerie Plame, tonight ripped President Bush's decision to commute the prison sentence of Lewis "Scooter" Libby in the CIA leak case.

    Appearing in an audio interview on MSNBC's "Countdown," Wilson called the move the latest evidence that the administration is "corrupt to the core." He added that it meant that the president was now participating in the "obstruction of justice."

    Wilson called on both the president and Libby's former boss, Vice President Cheney, to "come clean" on their roles in the leaking of his wife's name, now that Libby has been spared prison. He called the leaking of the name "treasonous."

    Asked by host Keith Olbermann if there was a "quid pro quo" - Libby would remain silent about crucial details of Cheney's role in the case in exchange for a pardon or commutation - Wilson answered, "absolutely."

    Libby was convicted of several counts of perjury and obstruction of justice.

    Wilson warned that the message of the commutation might lead to fewer people being willing to risk their lives as covert CIA operatives.

    He vowed to continue the civil suit with the aim of getting Cheney and Libby on the stand. And he called on Americans to protest the move by contacting members of Congress. Democratic leaders quickly condemned the Bush act.