Hawaii Superferry CEO, John Lehman,
Member of War Mongering Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld Cabal

Bush’s commutation of Scooter Libby’s sentence is just the latest outrage of this corrupt administration – but a sign that the U.S. has truly become am imperial dictatorship, where laws are trampled on and cronies are rewarded. Libby was convicted of perjury and obstruction of justice.

Everyone knows that he “outed” a covert CIA agent, which compromised US intelligence networks and likely resulted in the deaths of some foreign agents – an act of treason. The purpose: to get even with the agent’s husband who blew the whistle on the Administration’s lies regarding weapons of mass destruction in the lead-up to the Iraq invasion. So now Libby will not serve any jail time. Meanwhile, a black youth sits in prison, serving a 10-year sentence for stealing a bicycle.

It is important to note that Libby was a Signatory to the Project for a New American Century (www.pnac.info), the 2000 neo-con manifesto drafted shortly after Bush became President. It spelled out the invasion of Iraq and the establishment of permanent military bases in the Middle East. Other Signatories include trigger-happy war profiteers and lobbyists Dick Cheney, William Crystal, Richard Perle, Donald Rumsfeld, and Paul Wolfowitz, as well as convicted felons from the Iran-Contra Scandal Elliot Abrams and Caspar Weinberger, and the President’s brother, Jeb.

Unfortunately, these Imperialists have established themselves in Hawaii now. One of the key PNAC signatories is John Lehman, Chairman of the Hawaii Superferry. Lehman has 8 other companies, all involved in weapons systems, and spying for the U.S. military. Over the past forty years Lehman has been a consistent advocate of U.S. military supremacy and ever-increasing military budgets.

He was forced out of the Reagan Administration because of his preference for ideology and political agendas over fact-based intelligence. In a re-phrasing of the famous Lord Acton quote, Lehman once stated “Power corrupts, but absolute power is pretty neat!”

It is important to know all this if you are planning to ride on the Superferry.

By Lance Holter, Maui Democratic Party Chairman