on this day... september 29

On September 29, 1780, the British spy John André was court-martialed, found guilty and sentenced to death by hanging. An accomplice of Benedict Arnold, he had been captured six days earlier by American forces; arrested after the discovery of incriminating papers stashed in his boots. The exposure of these papers forced Benedict Arnold to flee to England aboard the British warship Vulture where he joined the British in their fight against the American revolutionaries.

After being sentenced to death, André requested that he be executed by firing squad because death by firing squad was considered a more "gentlemanly" death than by hanging. On October 2, 1780, General Washington wrote in his "general order" of the day, "That Major Andre General to the British Army ought to be considered as a spy from the Enemy and that agreeable to the law and usage of nations it is their opinion he ought to suffer death. "The Commander-in-Chief directs the execution of the above sentence in the usual way this afternoon at five o'clock precisely." John André was executed by hanging in Tappan, New York. He was 31 years old.

Fast forward to the year 2005

On September 29, 2005, NY Times reporter Judith Miller was released from federal detention in Alexandria, Virginia after agreeing to name sources in the "outing" of covert CIA officer Valerie Plame.

A little background...

In 1982, federal legislation was passed which made it illegal to reveal information about a covert agent to anyone not authorized to receive such classified information.

Ultimately Miller's source turned out to be none other than Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, Lewis "Scooter" Libby. Eventually Libby was convicted of obstruction of justice, perjury and making false statements to federal investigators in the Plame investigation. Before he was incarcerated, President George W. Bush commuted Libby's prison term on July 2, 2007.

The bottom line... no one has ever gone to prison... no one (other than Libby) has been charged with a crime in this sorry episode quite possibly reaching in to the highest federal office. The criminal behavior remains intact.