A president transformed
It is so moving to see how a willing executioner can soften into a man of compassion - for cronies
By Terry Jones
It has been a truly moving experience to witness the concern and compassion the president of the United States can show towards a convicted felon. Particularly someone accused of such grave offences as Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Dick Cheney's former chief of staff. On March 6 2007 Libby was convicted of obstruction of justice, making false statements to the FBI, and twice committing perjury before a grand jury. According to the charge sheet, Libby "did knowingly and corruptly endeavour to influence, obstruct and impede the due administration of justice by misleading and deceiving the grand jury". So it wasn't a case of absent-mindedness, then.
That is why George Bush's act of mercy is so inspiring, especially when one considers that compassion is not something generally associated with him. When he was governor of Texas, for instance, there were quite a number of convicted felons towards whom he didn't show much compassion at all. In fact he insisted they receive the full penalty of the law, which in their case was somewhat more severe than in Libby's. They were executed. When Bush became governor in 1995, the average number of executions in the state was 7.6 a year. During his time in office, he managed to put down a further 24 humans a year, bringing the annual number of executions up to 31.6; it is heartwarming to see how his attitude to convicted criminals has softened.
The president said the sentence imposed on Libby was "excessive", and that he had suffered enough punishment without it. "The reputation he gained through his years of public service and professional work in the legal community is for ever damaged," said Bush. "His wife and young children have also suffered immensely."
Now this will be good news for critics of the current system of justice. For some time, defence lawyers have been complaining that sentences are too harsh, that defendants' positive contributions to society are ignored, and that collateral damage caused to defendants' families is disregarded. Only last month the US attorney general, Alberto Gonzales, announced that the justice department would push for legislation to make federal sentences even tougher and less flexible. How delighted the critics of such harsh attitudes must be to see that the president has now come around to their way of thinking.
Mind you, Bush's softening of heart can only have happened in very recent days. A couple of weeks ago, in an eerily similar case, Victor Rita was, like Libby, convicted of perjury, making false statements to federal agents, and obstruction of justice. Like Scooter, Rita has an unblemished record of public service - 25 years in the armed forces with 35 commendations, awards and medals - and yet he was handed a 33-month jail sentence without even a message of condolence from the president.
In another recent case, the justice department tried to have Jamie Olis put away for more than 24 years for accounting fraud. In the end he got six years inside. But then I suppose fiddling the accounts isn't on a par with trying to obstruct an investigation into a breach of national security.
So I thoroughly approve of the president's change of heart towards convicted criminals, and hope it will continue until his term of office expires - and that in the future we shall witness increasing moderation in the justice department's insatiable urge to punish, imprison and execute.
And I sincerely hope that the commutation of Libby's prison sentence will usher in a new era of clemency, compassion and human forgiveness, under a president who otherwise has so much blood on his hands.
· Terry Jones is a film director, actor and Python
Terry-jones.net
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