Posted by
Playful Walrus on Monday, December 01, 2008 12:51:51 PM
Add me to the growing list of folks going on record calling for pardon of Ramos and Compean, or at least a commutation of their sentences.
Mr. President – I voted for you twice. I have generally supported your Presidency, with some reservations. This is one of them. FREE RAMOS AND COMPEAN.
Yes, I know that your buddy prosecuted them. But please put kindness and reason over personal loyalty. Your friend won his case. Ramos and Compean have been in prison. Hasn't this gone on long enough?
At the very worst, we have two guys who made some mistakes, not career criminals. They've been removed from their positions of power. Let it go! Who did they hurt? A drug smuggler.
However, I suspect that they were selectively prosecuted for the sake of a suck-up to someone south of the border. Enough is enough. These men were not running some corrupt operation. They were defending this country. It is injustice when they are treated so much worse than the repeat criminal they supposedly wronged.
Almost all of their sentence length stems from the use of their firearms – which are tools they are assigned to use. This was a misapplication of the law. It's like confiscating police cruisers because a cop flicks a cigarette out the window into the street and illegal dumping laws allow the for the confiscation of vehicles used in the dumping.
Let's face it, Mr. President – you'll get far more respect and praise for freeing Ramos and Compean than you will for letting them rot in prison. Do it!