| Topic: |
Politics > Politics-USA |
| User: |
"Captain Compassion" |
| Date: |
29 Oct 2005 04:02:59 PM |
| Object: |
No More Special Counsels |
No More Special Counsels
By David B. Rivkin Jr. and Lee A. Casey
Saturday, October 29, 2005; A23
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/28/AR2005102801771_pf.html
Special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald's indictment of I. Lewis "Scooter"
Libby should be the final proof that the system of "special
prosecutors" is bankrupt and ought to be abandoned.
Fitzgerald, a highly respected federal prosecutor from Chicago, was
given the task of investigating whether Bush administration officials
had violated the Intelligence Identities Protection Act by "leaking"
the identity of CIA employee Valerie Plame.
It is clear that, at least by sometime in January 2004 -- and probably
much earlier -- Fitzgerald knew this law had not been violated. Plame
was not a "covert" agent but a bureaucrat working at CIA headquarters.
Instead of closing shop, however, Fitzgerald sought an expansion of
his mandate and has now charged offenses that grew entirely out of the
investigation itself. In other words, there was no crime when the
investigation started, only, allegedly, after it finished.
Unfortunately, for special counsels, as under the code of the samurai,
once the sword is drawn it must taste blood.
The Plame affair began with the implication by Plame's husband, former
ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV, that Vice President Cheney had sent
him on a mission to Niger in 2002 to investigate claims that Saddam
Hussein had attempted to buy nuclear weapons material. Iraq's efforts
to obtain weapons-grade uranium ore or "yellowcake" in Africa became
an element of President Bush's justification for war, and it was
included in his 2003 State of the Union address. British intelligence
also believed that this attempt had been made, and the CIA's review of
the matter -- including Wilson's trip -- emphatically did not suggest
otherwise. Nevertheless, in July 2003 Wilson published a New York
Times op-ed piece designed to undercut the administration's claims
regarding Iraq's nuclear ambitions. The piece noted that Cheney's
office had "asked a serious question. I was asked to help formulate
the answer," and Wilson criticized the administration for proceeding
to war despite his conclusions.
In fact, Wilson was not selected by Cheney's office. His wife, a CIA
analyst working at the agency's Northern Virginia headquarters, was
involved in getting him the assignment. Apparently in an effort to set
the record straight, and to put the whole story before the American
people, administration officials told columnist Robert D. Novak about
Plame's role in selecting her husband for the Niger mission.
Administration critics immediately alleged that the name of a "covert"
CIA agent had been revealed -- a federal crime. Instead of permitting
this allegation to be investigated in the normal course of events by
federal prosecutors in Washington, the Justice Department tapped
Fitzgerald, the U.S. attorney in Chicago, to serve as a "special
counsel" to investigate the officials who might have been involved.
Ironically, the pressure to appoint a special counsel came only after
the information about the Justice Department internal investigation
was leaked to the media.
The age of special prosecutors, of course, began with Watergate. Since
that time, a series of "independent counsels" and "special counsels"
has left a trail of ruined lives but very few well-founded convictions
for serious federal crimes. Republicans were thoroughly disillusioned
with the system by the close of Ronald Reagan's second term, and many
Democrats came to agree by the time President Bill Clinton left
office. The independent counsel statute was not renewed and is no
longer in effect. But the attorney general may still appoint special
counsels as an administrative act, and this is how Fitzgerald took
office. He should be the last.
The reasons were well and truly articulated by Justice Robert Jackson,
then serving as Franklin Roosevelt's attorney general. Speaking of the
prosecutor's power, Jackson noted the great danger that a prosecutor
would choose whom to prosecute:
"Therein is the most dangerous power of the prosecutor: that he will
pick people that he thinks he should get, rather than pick cases that
need to be prosecuted. With the law books filled with a great
assortment of crimes, a prosecutor stands a fair chance of finding at
least a technical violation of some act on the part of almost anyone."
By being assigned to investigate one individual, or a small group, the
prosecutor is deprived of normal constraints such as resource
limitations and the perspective of having to choose from a range of
cases to pursue. Another vital missing ingredient is supervision.
Normally federal prosecutors have political superiors who review their
decisions. This is supposed to be the case even with special counsels.
Unfortunately, for reasons that are not entirely clear -- but that may
have involved some buck-passing by Justice Department officials --
Fitzgerald was specifically excused from even this minimal check on
his power and as a consequence was accountable only to himself.
Enough should be enough. The courts will now handle Fitzgerald's
allegations against Libby. But in the future, the investigation of
high-level misconduct should not be removed from the normal processes
of the Justice Department. The U.S. attorneys, and the department's
Criminal Division, are fully capable of investigating and prosecuting
alleged wrongdoing by important government officials, and can do it
with proper perspective. Almost all federal prosecutors are, in fact,
career lawyers quite capable of balking if their political supervisors
abuse their authority. They should be left alone to do their jobs.
--
"War is God's way of teaching Americans geography" -- Ambrose Bierce
"America is a vast conspiracy to make you happy." -- John Updike
"Long term commitment in relationships is only necessary because it takes
so damn long to raise children. Marriage may well be some kind of trick
to keep the males around beyond sexual satiation." -- Captain Compassion
"Progress is the increasing control of the environment by life.
--Will Durant
Joseph R. Darancette
daranc@NOSPAMverizon.net
.
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| User: "Roger" |
|
| Title: Re: No More Special Counsels |
29 Oct 2005 08:47:03 PM |
|
|
"Captain Compassion" <daranc@NOSPAMverizon.net> wrote in message
news:3oo7m194ib4ujt7ifd9til7c2l0i7kooo5@4ax.com...
No More Special Counsels
By David B. Rivkin Jr. and Lee A. Casey
Saturday, October 29, 2005; A23
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/28/AR2005102801771_pf.html
Special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald's indictment of I. Lewis "Scooter"
Libby should be the final proof that the system of "special
prosecutors" is bankrupt and ought to be abandoned.
Conservatives need to stop committing crimes.
Fitzgerald, a highly respected federal prosecutor from Chicago, was
given the task of investigating whether Bush administration officials
had violated the Intelligence Identities Protection Act by "leaking"
the identity of CIA employee Valerie Plame.
It is clear that, at least by sometime in January 2004 -- and probably
much earlier -- Fitzgerald knew this law had not been violated. Plame
was not a "covert" agent but a bureaucrat working at CIA headquarters.
Instead of closing shop, however, Fitzgerald sought an expansion of
his mandate and has now charged offenses that grew entirely out of the
investigation itself. In other words, there was no crime when the
investigation started, only, allegedly, after it finished.
Unfortunately, for special counsels, as under the code of the samurai,
once the sword is drawn it must taste blood.
The Plame affair began with the implication by Plame's husband, former
ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV, that Vice President Cheney had sent
him on a mission to Niger in 2002 to investigate claims that Saddam
Hussein had attempted to buy nuclear weapons material. Iraq's efforts
to obtain weapons-grade uranium ore or "yellowcake" in Africa became
an element of President Bush's justification for war, and it was
included in his 2003 State of the Union address. British intelligence
also believed that this attempt had been made, and the CIA's review of
the matter -- including Wilson's trip -- emphatically did not suggest
otherwise. Nevertheless, in July 2003 Wilson published a New York
Times op-ed piece designed to undercut the administration's claims
regarding Iraq's nuclear ambitions. The piece noted that Cheney's
office had "asked a serious question. I was asked to help formulate
the answer," and Wilson criticized the administration for proceeding
to war despite his conclusions.
In fact, Wilson was not selected by Cheney's office. His wife, a CIA
analyst working at the agency's Northern Virginia headquarters, was
involved in getting him the assignment. Apparently in an effort to set
the record straight, and to put the whole story before the American
people, administration officials told columnist Robert D. Novak about
Plame's role in selecting her husband for the Niger mission.
Administration critics immediately alleged that the name of a "covert"
CIA agent had been revealed -- a federal crime. Instead of permitting
this allegation to be investigated in the normal course of events by
federal prosecutors in Washington, the Justice Department tapped
Fitzgerald, the U.S. attorney in Chicago, to serve as a "special
counsel" to investigate the officials who might have been involved.
Ironically, the pressure to appoint a special counsel came only after
the information about the Justice Department internal investigation
was leaked to the media.
The age of special prosecutors, of course, began with Watergate. Since
that time, a series of "independent counsels" and "special counsels"
has left a trail of ruined lives but very few well-founded convictions
for serious federal crimes. Republicans were thoroughly disillusioned
with the system by the close of Ronald Reagan's second term, and many
Democrats came to agree by the time President Bill Clinton left
office. The independent counsel statute was not renewed and is no
longer in effect. But the attorney general may still appoint special
counsels as an administrative act, and this is how Fitzgerald took
office. He should be the last.
The reasons were well and truly articulated by Justice Robert Jackson,
then serving as Franklin Roosevelt's attorney general. Speaking of the
prosecutor's power, Jackson noted the great danger that a prosecutor
would choose whom to prosecute:
"Therein is the most dangerous power of the prosecutor: that he will
pick people that he thinks he should get, rather than pick cases that
need to be prosecuted. With the law books filled with a great
assortment of crimes, a prosecutor stands a fair chance of finding at
least a technical violation of some act on the part of almost anyone."
By being assigned to investigate one individual, or a small group, the
prosecutor is deprived of normal constraints such as resource
limitations and the perspective of having to choose from a range of
cases to pursue. Another vital missing ingredient is supervision.
Normally federal prosecutors have political superiors who review their
decisions. This is supposed to be the case even with special counsels.
Unfortunately, for reasons that are not entirely clear -- but that may
have involved some buck-passing by Justice Department officials --
Fitzgerald was specifically excused from even this minimal check on
his power and as a consequence was accountable only to himself.
Enough should be enough. The courts will now handle Fitzgerald's
allegations against Libby. But in the future, the investigation of
high-level misconduct should not be removed from the normal processes
of the Justice Department. The U.S. attorneys, and the department's
Criminal Division, are fully capable of investigating and prosecuting
alleged wrongdoing by important government officials, and can do it
with proper perspective. Almost all federal prosecutors are, in fact,
career lawyers quite capable of balking if their political supervisors
abuse their authority. They should be left alone to do their jobs.
--
"War is God's way of teaching Americans geography" -- Ambrose Bierce
"America is a vast conspiracy to make you happy." -- John Updike
"Long term commitment in relationships is only necessary because it takes
so damn long to raise children. Marriage may well be some kind of trick
to keep the males around beyond sexual satiation." -- Captain Compassion
"Progress is the increasing control of the environment by life.
--Will Durant
Joseph R. Darancette
daranc@NOSPAMverizon.net
.
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| User: "Saggy" |
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| Title: Re: No More Special Counsels |
29 Oct 2005 06:20:09 PM |
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.Apparently in an effort to set the record straight, and to put the whole story before the American people, administration officials told columnist Robert D. Novak about Plame's role in selecting her husband for the Niger mission.
Man, these articles are killin ! They just wanted to 'set the record straight'...............LOL
.
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| User: "Wanderer" |
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| Title: Re: No More Special Counsels |
29 Oct 2005 05:27:53 PM |
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Captain Compassion wrote:
No More Special Counsels
By David B. Rivkin Jr. and Lee A. Casey
Saturday, October 29, 2005; A23
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/28/AR2005102801771_pf.html
God yes! No more special councils before they completely
destroy AIPAC, and the Israel/Neocon connection.
--
Z-REX
.
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| User: "old hoodoo" |
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| Title: Re: No More Special Counsels |
29 Oct 2005 05:48:29 PM |
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Captain Compassion wrote:
No More Special Counsels
By David B. Rivkin Jr. and Lee A. Casey
Saturday, October 29, 2005; A23
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/28/AR2005102801771_pf.html
Special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald's indictment of I. Lewis "Scooter"
Libby should be the final proof that the system of "special
prosecutors" is bankrupt and ought to be abandoned.
Fitzgerald, a highly respected federal prosecutor from Chicago, was
given the task of investigating whether Bush administration officials
had violated the Intelligence Identities Protection Act by "leaking"
the identity of CIA employee Valerie Plame.
It is clear that, at least by sometime in January 2004 -- and probably
much earlier -- Fitzgerald knew this law had not been violated. Plame
was not a "covert" agent but a bureaucrat working at CIA headquarters.
Instead of closing shop, however, Fitzgerald sought an expansion of
his mandate and has now charged offenses that grew entirely out of the
investigation itself. In other words, there was no crime when the
investigation started, only, allegedly, after it finished.
Unfortunately, for special counsels, as under the code of the samurai,
once the sword is drawn it must taste blood.
The Plame affair began with the implication by Plame's husband, former
ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV, that Vice President Cheney had sent
him on a mission to Niger in 2002 to investigate claims that Saddam
Hussein had attempted to buy nuclear weapons material. Iraq's efforts
to obtain weapons-grade uranium ore or "yellowcake" in Africa became
an element of President Bush's justification for war, and it was
included in his 2003 State of the Union address. British intelligence
also believed that this attempt had been made, and the CIA's review of
the matter -- including Wilson's trip -- emphatically did not suggest
otherwise. Nevertheless, in July 2003 Wilson published a New York
Times op-ed piece designed to undercut the administration's claims
regarding Iraq's nuclear ambitions. The piece noted that Cheney's
office had "asked a serious question. I was asked to help formulate
the answer," and Wilson criticized the administration for proceeding
to war despite his conclusions.
In fact, Wilson was not selected by Cheney's office. His wife, a CIA
analyst working at the agency's Northern Virginia headquarters, was
involved in getting him the assignment. Apparently in an effort to set
the record straight, and to put the whole story before the American
people, administration officials told columnist Robert D. Novak about
Plame's role in selecting her husband for the Niger mission.
Administration critics immediately alleged that the name of a "covert"
CIA agent had been revealed -- a federal crime. Instead of permitting
this allegation to be investigated in the normal course of events by
federal prosecutors in Washington, the Justice Department tapped
Fitzgerald, the U.S. attorney in Chicago, to serve as a "special
counsel" to investigate the officials who might have been involved.
Ironically, the pressure to appoint a special counsel came only after
the information about the Justice Department internal investigation
was leaked to the media.
The age of special prosecutors, of course, began with Watergate. Since
that time, a series of "independent counsels" and "special counsels"
has left a trail of ruined lives but very few well-founded convictions
for serious federal crimes. Republicans were thoroughly disillusioned
with the system by the close of Ronald Reagan's second term, and many
Democrats came to agree by the time President Bill Clinton left
office. The independent counsel statute was not renewed and is no
longer in effect. But the attorney general may still appoint special
counsels as an administrative act, and this is how Fitzgerald took
office. He should be the last.
The reasons were well and truly articulated by Justice Robert Jackson,
then serving as Franklin Roosevelt's attorney general. Speaking of the
prosecutor's power, Jackson noted the great danger that a prosecutor
would choose whom to prosecute:
"Therein is the most dangerous power of the prosecutor: that he will
pick people that he thinks he should get, rather than pick cases that
need to be prosecuted. With the law books filled with a great
assortment of crimes, a prosecutor stands a fair chance of finding at
least a technical violation of some act on the part of almost anyone."
By being assigned to investigate one individual, or a small group, the
prosecutor is deprived of normal constraints such as resource
limitations and the perspective of having to choose from a range of
cases to pursue. Another vital missing ingredient is supervision.
Normally federal prosecutors have political superiors who review their
decisions. This is supposed to be the case even with special counsels.
Unfortunately, for reasons that are not entirely clear -- but that may
have involved some buck-passing by Justice Department officials --
Fitzgerald was specifically excused from even this minimal check on
his power and as a consequence was accountable only to himself.
Enough should be enough. The courts will now handle Fitzgerald's
allegations against Libby. But in the future, the investigation of
high-level misconduct should not be removed from the normal processes
of the Justice Department. The U.S. attorneys, and the department's
Criminal Division, are fully capable of investigating and prosecuting
alleged wrongdoing by important government officials, and can do it
with proper perspective. Almost all federal prosecutors are, in fact,
career lawyers quite capable of balking if their political supervisors
abuse their authority. They should be left alone to do their jobs.
You don't mention the upside to these prosecutions for hindering
investigations....as a result many politicians strive to do everything
aboveboard so they do not feel compelled to have to lie when
investigated for possible wrongdoing. A special prosecutor has to have
the remedy of punishing those who deliberately lie to hinder a special
prosecutors investigation....otherwise a person could lie to a special
prosecutor over matters that are too important.
If you can't prosecute liars in government then many more bad things can
happen in which politicians think they will be able to lie their way out
of, although if we could prosecute all liars in Washington we wouldn't
have a government so there are limits.
It is about accountability....the Present Bush administation have been
one of the most arrogant in assuming it has absolute power to lie and
distort to get what if wants...it just found out you can't lie to
coverup possible misconduct to avoid investigation....and although the
alleged misconduct may have only been a pushing of and not breaking the
envelope, Libby was allegedly determined that a proper investigation not
be had, why? because he was afraid it MIGHT have been illegal or thought
it might have been illegal, or just didn't want to chance that it might
be illegal. Complete cooperation might have resulted in no indictments,
but maybe not. We may never know. A politician or the minions of a
politician do not have the right to make that choice.
They are supposed to tell the truth and let he chips fall where they may.
A good wake up call to all politiciansm, not just to the Bush
administration.
An special prosecutor is one of the checks and balances in government.
You cannot rely on non-special prosecutors to not succumb to political
pressure.
This one also should perk up the ears of an increasingly non-neutral press.
To have let the Bush administration get away with this attempted
coverup, and that is what it was, would be irresponsible.
"Don't get stuck on stupid." The problem here is not a special
prosecutor...it is alledged isconduct by government official(s).
It will be interesting to watch how the Bush administration handles
this. Will Libby have enough loyalty to the administration to fall on
his sword and take one for the team, or will he whine and squeal like a
caught pig? We will see. A lot will depend on how much he thinks the
Republicans can be relying upon for taking care of their fallen. They
are awash in so much money you will figure that Libby will capitulate
with a deal and take ALL the blame comfortable in the thought he will be
a made man for the rest of his life....or will the Republicans turn
their backs to him? If he is left out on his own no telling what twists
and turns this will take.
The up side of this is that maybe, just maybe, the Bush administration
will grow up and start acting a bit more responsibly.
.
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| User: "MarkM" |
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| Title: Re: No More Special Counsels |
29 Oct 2005 08:46:56 PM |
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Funny,
Conservatives weren't calling for an end to Special Counsels, when the size
of Bill Clinton's penis was the focus of their passionate, intense
fascination.
Now that Republicans have committed much more serious crimes of concern to
the entire nation, they would like to be able to get away with anything
without any accountability.
- - - -
An Archive of Nobel-Prize-Winning Pacifists and Peace Activists
http://www.peaceuniversalist.com/nobel/prize.htm
.
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| User: "Roger" |
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| Title: Re: No More Special Counsels |
30 Oct 2005 08:43:38 AM |
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"MarkM" <markmetzler@sbcglobal.net> wrote in message
news:kCV8f.7274$dO2.6635@newssvr29.news.prodigy.net...
Funny,
Conservatives weren't calling for an end to Special Counsels, when the
size of Bill Clinton's penis was the focus of their passionate, intense
fascination.
Now that Republicans have committed much more serious crimes of concern to
the entire nation, they would like to be able to get away with anything
without any accountability.
Conservatives are massive hypocrites. Is this news?
.
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| User: "Christopher Helms" |
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| Title: Re: No More Special Counsels |
30 Oct 2005 08:26:16 AM |
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Roger wrote in message ...
"MarkM" <markmetzler@sbcglobal.net> wrote in message
news:kCV8f.7274$dO2.6635@newssvr29.news.prodigy.net...
Funny,
Conservatives weren't calling for an end to Special Counsels, when the
size of Bill Clinton's penis was the focus of their passionate, intense
fascination.
Now that Republicans have committed much more serious crimes of concern
to
the entire nation, they would like to be able to get away with anything
without any accountability.
Have you been watching TV for the last five years? Special council or no
special council, they regularly get away with anything without
accountability. Perfect example: "Special Council" Fitzgerald is given all
the power he could ask for, he walks into the Bush white house, which is a
rats nest of illegal behavior, malfeasance, corruption, conflicts of
interest and god only knows what else in order to find out which of Bush's
Brownshirts gave Valerie Plames name to several journalists. He finds out
who it is almost immediately but doesn't really seem to care. He could
enforce the 1917 Espionage Act but he apparently doesn't feel like it,
because apparently he doesn't think he can prove that Karl Rove giving
Plames name to several right wing journalists over the course of several
weeks along with the tidbit "She's with the CIA, you know" was not some sort
of a bizarre "accident" on Roves part. Besides, he's far more interested in
Scooter Libbys' fibbing which, to the Bush administrations great delight,
turns the investigation into a safe, meaningless, cathartic ritual that is
almost guaranteed to go absolutely nowhere.
I said it before and I'll say it again: This whole investigation is nothing
more than the Bush administration investigating itself. Libby is going to
walk. Everybody else already has. Fitzgerald is some sort of a Bush
administration shill.
.
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| User: "Malto" |
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| Title: Re: No More Special Counsels |
29 Oct 2005 06:30:33 PM |
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|
LOL! what a bunch of cry-babies!
"Captain Compassion" <daranc@NOSPAMverizon.net> wrote in message
news:3oo7m194ib4ujt7ifd9til7c2l0i7kooo5@4ax.com...
No More Special Counsels
By David B. Rivkin Jr. and Lee A. Casey
Saturday, October 29, 2005; A23
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/28/AR2005102801
771_pf.html
Special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald's indictment of I. Lewis "Scooter"
Libby should be the final proof that the system of "special
prosecutors" is bankrupt and ought to be abandoned.
Fitzgerald, a highly respected federal prosecutor from Chicago, was
given the task of investigating whether Bush administration officials
had violated the Intelligence Identities Protection Act by "leaking"
the identity of CIA employee Valerie Plame.
It is clear that, at least by sometime in January 2004 -- and probably
much earlier -- Fitzgerald knew this law had not been violated. Plame
was not a "covert" agent but a bureaucrat working at CIA headquarters.
Instead of closing shop, however, Fitzgerald sought an expansion of
his mandate and has now charged offenses that grew entirely out of the
investigation itself. In other words, there was no crime when the
investigation started, only, allegedly, after it finished.
Unfortunately, for special counsels, as under the code of the samurai,
once the sword is drawn it must taste blood.
The Plame affair began with the implication by Plame's husband, former
ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV, that Vice President Cheney had sent
him on a mission to Niger in 2002 to investigate claims that Saddam
Hussein had attempted to buy nuclear weapons material. Iraq's efforts
to obtain weapons-grade uranium ore or "yellowcake" in Africa became
an element of President Bush's justification for war, and it was
included in his 2003 State of the Union address. British intelligence
also believed that this attempt had been made, and the CIA's review of
the matter -- including Wilson's trip -- emphatically did not suggest
otherwise. Nevertheless, in July 2003 Wilson published a New York
Times op-ed piece designed to undercut the administration's claims
regarding Iraq's nuclear ambitions. The piece noted that Cheney's
office had "asked a serious question. I was asked to help formulate
the answer," and Wilson criticized the administration for proceeding
to war despite his conclusions.
In fact, Wilson was not selected by Cheney's office. His wife, a CIA
analyst working at the agency's Northern Virginia headquarters, was
involved in getting him the assignment. Apparently in an effort to set
the record straight, and to put the whole story before the American
people, administration officials told columnist Robert D. Novak about
Plame's role in selecting her husband for the Niger mission.
Administration critics immediately alleged that the name of a "covert"
CIA agent had been revealed -- a federal crime. Instead of permitting
this allegation to be investigated in the normal course of events by
federal prosecutors in Washington, the Justice Department tapped
Fitzgerald, the U.S. attorney in Chicago, to serve as a "special
counsel" to investigate the officials who might have been involved.
Ironically, the pressure to appoint a special counsel came only after
the information about the Justice Department internal investigation
was leaked to the media.
The age of special prosecutors, of course, began with Watergate. Since
that time, a series of "independent counsels" and "special counsels"
has left a trail of ruined lives but very few well-founded convictions
for serious federal crimes. Republicans were thoroughly disillusioned
with the system by the close of Ronald Reagan's second term, and many
Democrats came to agree by the time President Bill Clinton left
office. The independent counsel statute was not renewed and is no
longer in effect. But the attorney general may still appoint special
counsels as an administrative act, and this is how Fitzgerald took
office. He should be the last.
The reasons were well and truly articulated by Justice Robert Jackson,
then serving as Franklin Roosevelt's attorney general. Speaking of the
prosecutor's power, Jackson noted the great danger that a prosecutor
would choose whom to prosecute:
"Therein is the most dangerous power of the prosecutor: that he will
pick people that he thinks he should get, rather than pick cases that
need to be prosecuted. With the law books filled with a great
assortment of crimes, a prosecutor stands a fair chance of finding at
least a technical violation of some act on the part of almost anyone."
By being assigned to investigate one individual, or a small group, the
prosecutor is deprived of normal constraints such as resource
limitations and the perspective of having to choose from a range of
cases to pursue. Another vital missing ingredient is supervision.
Normally federal prosecutors have political superiors who review their
decisions. This is supposed to be the case even with special counsels.
Unfortunately, for reasons that are not entirely clear -- but that may
have involved some buck-passing by Justice Department officials --
Fitzgerald was specifically excused from even this minimal check on
his power and as a consequence was accountable only to himself.
Enough should be enough. The courts will now handle Fitzgerald's
allegations against Libby. But in the future, the investigation of
high-level misconduct should not be removed from the normal processes
of the Justice Department. The U.S. attorneys, and the department's
Criminal Division, are fully capable of investigating and prosecuting
alleged wrongdoing by important government officials, and can do it
with proper perspective. Almost all federal prosecutors are, in fact,
career lawyers quite capable of balking if their political supervisors
abuse their authority. They should be left alone to do their jobs.
--
"War is God's way of teaching Americans geography" -- Ambrose Bierce
"America is a vast conspiracy to make you happy." -- John Updike
"Long term commitment in relationships is only necessary because it takes
so damn long to raise children. Marriage may well be some kind of trick
to keep the males around beyond sexual satiation." -- Captain Compassion
"Progress is the increasing control of the environment by life.
--Will Durant
Joseph R. Darancette
daranc@NOSPAMverizon.net
.
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| User: "Roger" |
|
| Title: Re: No More Special Counsels |
29 Oct 2005 08:47:59 PM |
|
|
"Malto" <Malto@offski.commie> wrote in message
news:dk1112$i9r$0@pita.alt.net...
LOL! what a bunch of cry-babies!
They run ALL branches of government and appoint their own procecutor, and
they STILL can't get away with crimes.
What kind of country is this?
"Captain Compassion" <daranc@NOSPAMverizon.net> wrote in message
news:3oo7m194ib4ujt7ifd9til7c2l0i7kooo5@4ax.com...
No More Special Counsels
By David B. Rivkin Jr. and Lee A. Casey
Saturday, October 29, 2005; A23
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/28/AR2005102801
771_pf.html
Special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald's indictment of I. Lewis "Scooter"
Libby should be the final proof that the system of "special
prosecutors" is bankrupt and ought to be abandoned.
Fitzgerald, a highly respected federal prosecutor from Chicago, was
given the task of investigating whether Bush administration officials
had violated the Intelligence Identities Protection Act by "leaking"
the identity of CIA employee Valerie Plame.
It is clear that, at least by sometime in January 2004 -- and probably
much earlier -- Fitzgerald knew this law had not been violated. Plame
was not a "covert" agent but a bureaucrat working at CIA headquarters.
Instead of closing shop, however, Fitzgerald sought an expansion of
his mandate and has now charged offenses that grew entirely out of the
investigation itself. In other words, there was no crime when the
investigation started, only, allegedly, after it finished.
Unfortunately, for special counsels, as under the code of the samurai,
once the sword is drawn it must taste blood.
The Plame affair began with the implication by Plame's husband, former
ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV, that Vice President Cheney had sent
him on a mission to Niger in 2002 to investigate claims that Saddam
Hussein had attempted to buy nuclear weapons material. Iraq's efforts
to obtain weapons-grade uranium ore or "yellowcake" in Africa became
an element of President Bush's justification for war, and it was
included in his 2003 State of the Union address. British intelligence
also believed that this attempt had been made, and the CIA's review of
the matter -- including Wilson's trip -- emphatically did not suggest
otherwise. Nevertheless, in July 2003 Wilson published a New York
Times op-ed piece designed to undercut the administration's claims
regarding Iraq's nuclear ambitions. The piece noted that Cheney's
office had "asked a serious question. I was asked to help formulate
the answer," and Wilson criticized the administration for proceeding
to war despite his conclusions.
In fact, Wilson was not selected by Cheney's office. His wife, a CIA
analyst working at the agency's Northern Virginia headquarters, was
involved in getting him the assignment. Apparently in an effort to set
the record straight, and to put the whole story before the American
people, administration officials told columnist Robert D. Novak about
Plame's role in selecting her husband for the Niger mission.
Administration critics immediately alleged that the name of a "covert"
CIA agent had been revealed -- a federal crime. Instead of permitting
this allegation to be investigated in the normal course of events by
federal prosecutors in Washington, the Justice Department tapped
Fitzgerald, the U.S. attorney in Chicago, to serve as a "special
counsel" to investigate the officials who might have been involved.
Ironically, the pressure to appoint a special counsel came only after
the information about the Justice Department internal investigation
was leaked to the media.
The age of special prosecutors, of course, began with Watergate. Since
that time, a series of "independent counsels" and "special counsels"
has left a trail of ruined lives but very few well-founded convictions
for serious federal crimes. Republicans were thoroughly disillusioned
with the system by the close of Ronald Reagan's second term, and many
Democrats came to agree by the time President Bill Clinton left
office. The independent counsel statute was not renewed and is no
longer in effect. But the attorney general may still appoint special
counsels as an administrative act, and this is how Fitzgerald took
office. He should be the last.
The reasons were well and truly articulated by Justice Robert Jackson,
then serving as Franklin Roosevelt's attorney general. Speaking of the
prosecutor's power, Jackson noted the great danger that a prosecutor
would choose whom to prosecute:
"Therein is the most dangerous power of the prosecutor: that he will
pick people that he thinks he should get, rather than pick cases that
need to be prosecuted. With the law books filled with a great
assortment of crimes, a prosecutor stands a fair chance of finding at
least a technical violation of some act on the part of almost anyone."
By being assigned to investigate one individual, or a small group, the
prosecutor is deprived of normal constraints such as resource
limitations and the perspective of having to choose from a range of
cases to pursue. Another vital missing ingredient is supervision.
Normally federal prosecutors have political superiors who review their
decisions. This is supposed to be the case even with special counsels.
Unfortunately, for reasons that are not entirely clear -- but that may
have involved some buck-passing by Justice Department officials --
Fitzgerald was specifically excused from even this minimal check on
his power and as a consequence was accountable only to himself.
Enough should be enough. The courts will now handle Fitzgerald's
allegations against Libby. But in the future, the investigation of
high-level misconduct should not be removed from the normal processes
of the Justice Department. The U.S. attorneys, and the department's
Criminal Division, are fully capable of investigating and prosecuting
alleged wrongdoing by important government officials, and can do it
with proper perspective. Almost all federal prosecutors are, in fact,
career lawyers quite capable of balking if their political supervisors
abuse their authority. They should be left alone to do their jobs.
--
"War is God's way of teaching Americans geography" -- Ambrose Bierce
"America is a vast conspiracy to make you happy." -- John Updike
"Long term commitment in relationships is only necessary because it takes
so damn long to raise children. Marriage may well be some kind of trick
to keep the males around beyond sexual satiation." -- Captain Compassion
"Progress is the increasing control of the environment by life.
--Will Durant
Joseph R. Darancette
daranc@NOSPAMverizon.net
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