Interesting to see how news is reported in other countries. This is in France.
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Bush facing potential "Watergate" over refusal to pardon Agents

Chad Groening
Publié le mardi 13 mars 2007

An author and investigative journalist believes President Bush is playing a high stakes game by digging in and refusing to pardon two former U.S. Border Patrol agents who many people believe should never of have been charged with crimes related to the shooting of an illegal alien drug smuggler. One Congressman has even mentioned the word "impeachment."

Author Dr. Jerome Corsi has conducted an extensive investigation of the case of former border guards Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean, who received 11 and 12 years, respectively, after being convicted by a federal court in El Paso. The investigative journalist says this is not the first time the Bush Administration has prosecuted Border Patrol agents for doing their job ; one former agent, he notes, has already won his appeal of a conviction in a case very similar to that of Ramos and Compean.

"The Department of Homeland Security and [U.S. Attorney] Johnny Sutton are out to frame Border Patrol agents to get convictions to satisfy the White House, who wants to please Mexico," Corsi asserts. "If that’s the sequence here, we’ve got some big problems the American people are not going to be happy to learn," he says.

In fact, the author notes, when agent Ramos was brutally beaten up by illegal aliens at a Mississippi prison, one member of Congress actually suggested impeachment.

"Congressman [Dana] Rohrabacher said if either Ramos or Compean were to be killed in prison by the inmates, that impeachment proceedings would be started in the House of Representatives," Corsi notes. "Now, that’s the first time impeachment has been mentioned by a responsible public official," he says, "so I know this is a case that has high stakes for the White House."

A number of similarities exist between the case of Ramos and Compean and the Watergate scandal, Corsi observes. It becomes increasingly apparent, he says, "the more the White House refuses to get involved in issues like supporting the appeal for these officers to get out on bond pending their appeal."

Under the circumstances, the writer notes, "Ramos and Compean may be spending time today in jail that they never had to spend should their appeal be successful." So the Bush administration’s position, he contends, "is very vindictive ; it’s dug in. It indicates a hardening of position by the White House, and I see that as a very bad sign for the White House. It’s the identical thing that Richard Nixon did. When Watergate came, he dug in."

Supporters of the Ramos and Compean believe the Bush Administration zealously prosecuted them to pander to the demands of the Mexican government. In light of this, Corsi feels Mr. Bush is risking much by refusing to pardon two former Border Patrol agents and that his actions could possibly even lead to impeachment.

http://www.spcm.org/Journal/spip.php?article7353