The Socialist 5 July 2007

Brown's government for the rich

Blair's toadying surpasses all clichés

National Shop Stewards' Network conference: Join the fightback against the bosses' offensive

Campaign for a New Workers' Party: Giving workers a voice

Lively CNWP meeting in Cardiff

Unite against war, poverty and terrorism

Postal workers: we're striking to win

Postal workers' strike gets solid support across the country

Under several feet of flood water - after flood defence budget cut

"A new gilded age of inequality"

Stop subsidising private schools

Surplus cash yet cutbacks continue

Why the United Nations fails the test of internationalism

Iran: Riots over petrol rationing

Climate change: socialist international planning needed

George Bush - a get out of jail ticket

Pakistan: Union activist has suspension withdrawn following protests

Tales from the council chamber

'Living in a parallel universe'

UNISON delegates challenge leadership

Victory over bullying management

RMT conference: Fighting a thousand cuts

Not so nice Mr Branson

Socialism 2007

Two plays reviewed by Mark Baker: 'Philistines' and 'The Last Confession'

Previous issues, etc

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George Bush - a get out of jail ticket

WITH GEORGE Bush commuting Lewis "Scooter" Libby's prison sentence for obstructing justice, perjury and giving false statements to the FBI, the rich socialite, dilettante, Paris Hilton, must be ruing not making a substantial donation to the Republican party!

Libby's story begins on the eve of the last Iraq war. In September 2002 Blair's 'dodgy dossier' on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction (WMD) contained the spurious claim that Saddam's regime had sought to buy uranium from Niger. This claim was repeatedly used by George Bush to justify invading Iraq.

The CIA spy agency doubted this claim and despatched a former US ambassador, Joseph Wilson, to investigate. After no WMDs were found in Iraq, Wilson denounced the Bush administration for deliberately manipulating the Niger story for its war aims.

After Wilson went public, Wilson's wife - Valerie Plame - was identified as an undercover CIA agent by a journalist after the information was deliberately leaked (a criminal act) by someone in the Bush administration. Following an investigation, Lewis Libby was put on trial, not for leaking the information but for frustrating the investigation.

To many people, including the jurors of the case, Libby acted as the 'fall guy' for even bigger officials such as Vice President Dick Cheney.

In this issue

Brown's government for the rich