Lewis "Scooter" Libby Guilty

The widely reported trial where Lewis "Scooter" Libby is charged with lying to the FBI brought to mind some aspects of our lives that deserve some thought. In this case Libby was charged with perjury for lying to the FBI while they were investigating an alleged crime that was later determined not to have happened. That's right. The FBI was investigating an alleged crime that ultimately was determined not to have occurred. However, in the course of their investigation, they believed Libby had lied to them.

It was announced today that Libby had been convicted of four out of five charges related to his apparent lying. While the detailed specifics of the case can only be ascertained through a complete reading of the transcript some interesting aspects of the case have been reported. Probably the most interesting part involves television news personality Tim Russert. Russert testified on behalf of the prosecution that Libby had revealed to him certain facts that strongly indicated that Libby had lied, although Russert had difficulty remembering and had apparently reconsidered some previous testimony.

Libby, for his part had great difficulty remembering exact times and sequences of what was told to a number of parties involved in the case and chose not to testify. At any rate, the jury when provided with the facts that were introduced in the courtroom determined that Libby was guilty.

This was a very complex case with almost all of the witnesses relying on their recall of events that occurred many months before. I was interested in the outcome primarily because I have difficulty remembering a sequence of events or words that may have been spoken last week, let alone last year.

My wife and I have had the exact same experiences over 35 years of marriage and yet our memories of exactly what occurred, who precisely was involved and what may have been said are often completely different. How a jury might sort out the differences by hearing witnesses on behalf of each of us would seem to be an overwhelming task. I suspect my testimony might be full of phrases such as "as best I can recollect" or "as I remember" while my wife's recollections would be much more positive with words such as "I remember exactly" or "I clearly recall". I believe that any man married for more than a few months will know exactly what I am referring too.

As I was contemplating what my fate might be if there was a trial about what I may have done or said in the past, it occurred to me that some people or professions might be better at recalling events more than others. As a former teacher, I recall my students swearing that they had turned in a report or that I said something about a due date for an assignment that was significantly different than my recall. One incident, that I do clearly recall is a student thanking me during their graduation for the words of encouragement that I had provided. I was amazed as the student recounted my exact words and where we were when I said them. I had absolutely no memory of the event. I suspect this example has to do with priorities. My words had particular meaning for that individual. To me they were just words associated with doing my job as best I could.

Additionally, and perhaps it is only me, but there seems to be a tendency to embellish the details of any occurrence to reflect our best qualities. So if I had a disagreement with my boss, I might say that, "I had to straighten him out," when in fact I might have just clarified a point. Over time, I might recall a much more memorable meeting than he might remember. Or, when writing about a particular topic, one might skew the facts (spin) slightly to support a viewpoint so that in time the actual event could be distorted. In fact, it is not unusual for news reports to attribute a statement to the wrong person.

In short, our memories of events often deceive us. We often recall events in a biased manner. Was Scooter Libby lying? The jury said so - so it must be true. I'm sure glad it wasn't me on trial. I eagerly await the disclosure of how the jury reached their conclusion. As for me - is today Tuesday or Wednesday?