You Can't Heal a Wound Until You have Cleaned It
Many legal minds were shocked when federal judge Mark Fuller, at sentencing, sent Siegelman directly to prison without allowing the usual 45 days before reporting.
"He had him manacled around his legs like we do with crazed killers. And whisked off to prison just like that. Now what does that tell you? That tells you that this was personal. You would not do that to a former governor," Woods says.
"Would you do that to any white collar criminal?" Pelley asks.
"No, I haven't seen it done," Woods says.
"Help me understand something. You're blaming the Republican administration for this prosecution. You're saying it was a political prosecution. You are a Republican. How do I reconcile that?" Pelley asks.
"We're Americans first. And you got to call it as you see it. And you got to stand up for what's right in this country," Woods says. ...
Don Siegelman has six years and eight months to go on his sentence. CBS, 2-21-08
Orson Wells' 1962 film version of Franz Kafka's The Trail
Siegelman, Plame, the Six Fired US Attorneys & the Deep-Sixing of Justice in the USA; You Can't Heal a Wound Until You have Cleaned It
Here are two direct questions that both Sen. Obama and Sen. Clinton should be compelled to answer --
If you survive the gauntlet of hate and fear-mongering that stretches out before you from now until November, will you immediately, upon entering office, begin a personal review of the prosecution and imprisonment of Don Siegelman and pardon him post-haste once you verify that he was victim of a political show trial?
If you survive the gauntlet of hate and fear-mongering that stretches out before you from now until November, will you immediately, upon entering office, appoint an independent prosecutor to investigate the politicization and perversion of the US Department of Justice?
It is unlikely they will be asked these questions directly. And it is just as unlikely that, if asked, their answers will be affirmative and unequivocal.
That is most unfortunate.
Because the greatest lesson of all comes from the case of Don Siegelman, and that lesson is that no one is safe here anymore, not the innocent, not even the powerful.
If these wrongs are not righted, this scourge will only return, and next time it will not be turned back.
Yes, the Goddess Justice has been deep-sixed in the USA.
Justice disappeared:
Flagrant violations of the Geneva Accords and the Bill of Rights, such as institutionalizing torture and declaring habeas corpus optional.
Justice delayed:
The indictment of Rep. Rick Renzi (R-AZ) is just one of several more that would have occurred in 2006 or 2007 if the six US attorneys had not been fired.
Justice denied:
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