Letter: Clinton, Libby cases are nothing alike

Sunday, June 24, 2007 | 7:08 a.m.

Bob Ashby's June 16 letter - "Is Libby any worse than Bill Clinton?" - was absolutely astounding. How could such a comparison be made by anyone even remotely familiar with the facts?

President Clinton lied during a civil hearing and to the American people about oral sex in the White House - a horrendous affront to his wife; nonetheless, behavior not unlike that of many past presidents or many of those pushing for impeachment (including then-Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich). Clinton violated the Sixth Commandment - immoral but not illegal.

Scooter Libby obstructed justice and committed perjury in a case involving the outing of a CIA agent - an act initiated in the vice president's office as a retaliatory measure against agent Valerie Plame's husband.

President Bush, in his State of the Union address, claimed that Iraq had bought yellow cake from Niger to build an atom bomb , which Saddam Hussein planned to use against the United States. That was a false statement, as were the WMD statements, which were used to start the war in Iraq.

Ambassador Joseph Wilson, the CIA agent's husband, had gone to Niger to check the validity of the yellowcake claim and found it to be false. His report was given to the White House and to the CIA. President Bush included the claim in his State of the Union address anyway.

President Bush's war, a war of which Scooter Libby was one of the architects, has cost more than 3,500 American lives and several hundred thousand Iraqi lives. The war has brought havoc to the Middle East, destroyed our credibility around the world and put our country in enormous debt.

So, yes, Mr. Ashby, those facts make Mr. Libby's lies much more heinous than the lie President Clinton told about sex.

Barbara Rowan, Las Vegas