George W. Bush said that serving any jail time at all would be “too harsh” a punishment for Scooter Libby’s conviction of obstructing justice and committing perjury with respect to an investigation into the burning of a covert CIA Agent’s identity.
Meanwhile, our trading partners in the far east are taking a more aggressive approach to government accountability, at least in one case. Joseph Kahn, writing for the International Herald Tribune, has an article entitled China executes the former head of its food and drug agency.
China executed its former top food and drug regulator on Tuesday for taking bribes to approve untested medicine, as the Beijing leadership scrambled to show that it was serious about improving the safety of Chinese products. . . . China executed its former top food and drug regulator on Tuesday for taking bribes to approve untested medicine, as the Beijing leadership scrambled to show that it was serious about improving the safety of Chinese products.
The story goes on to note that, even by Chinese standards, the punishment was unusually harsh and unusually swift. Recent international publicity concerning unsafe Chinese products probably influenced the process. Recent incidents include tainted dog food, deaths in Panama from tainted cough syrup, and lead paint in Thomas the Tank Engine toys.
Maybe he did not receive the memo about MSG…
Between the Libby case and this, we see the extremes. We could use more accountability in the USA to be sure, but I’m loath to think that many will associate this case in China with Libby and conclude the Chinese are on to something.
I don’t know. I think if Clinton, or his Veep Gore, had outed a CIA agent’s identity in time of Global War Against America-Hating Jihadofascists, it probably would have been considered a capital offense.