I'm sure most of you are already pretty familiar with the John Walker Lindh story, possibly even Jesselyn's part in exposing governmental ethics violations during that case. It certainly comes across as the granddaddy of our current situation, and knowing what we know now, how can we not bite back? Other countries are certainly beginning to do so...
It occurs to me every time I read something from Jesselyn that I REALLY admire this woman. The Justice Department truly shot themselves in the foot with her. Certainly I admire her drive to see that we do NOT ignore this story while those who've perpetrated these crimes continue to receive promotions, and lie without consequence regarding their actions.
I admit, I try to keep up as much as I can with the news, but without reliable TV service, I can't truly be glued to CSPAN 24/7, no matter how much I would love it. The depth of the "crime pays" mindset that the higher ups in our government have bred and encouraged is nothing new, however new facets of it are continually becoming clearer to me....
BuzzFlash: What’s interesting to see here is that the Department saw you as a liability. You were the woman who knew too much, in a way. And you’ve said you didn’t really create a big stir, even though the Attorney General was lying. I mean, there’s no other way you can look at it, the way he presented the issue of attorney representation and so forth.
Jesselyn Radack: For me, that became crystal clear during the confirmation hearings of Michael Chertoff, first to be a federal judge, and then more recently head of the Department of Homeland Security. He was questioned during both confirmation hearings specifically about the Lindh case, and specifically about the retaliation towards me that followed. And he blatantly lied. But basically his answers were non-responsive and hyper-technical, and basically very elliptical. At first, he flat-out denied that my office had ever rendered advice in this case, period. Then, when confronted by Senator Kennedy about the actual advice that was given, he still said he didn’t know about it. Later, when confronted with the fact that he did, he kind of backtracked a little bit and said he recalls learning about it, but didn’t really consider it to be an official opinion and that kind of thing. As this progressed, it became clear that this went to much higher levels than just a decision by the director of the ethics office. Later on, The New York Times was able to get the attorney with whom I corresponded to go on the record that his boss -- at the time, that was Michael Chertoff -- was very displeased with the fact that he had sought the advice of the ethics office. He had definitely stepped out of line in doing that.
Michael Chertoff at that time was the Assistant Attorney General in charge of the criminal division. He was the uppermost figurehead in the criminal division.
Because what do ethics matter right? This probably is old news, but HEY, I hadn't heard about it, how many other Americans haven't either? I pity those who were on the lower levels of this administration-I have to wonder how many have been doing their jobs the best they can when even consulting ethics advise has become a violation of some unspoken power struggle.
Does anyone know if those hearings were under oath? I can think of a lot of fine, upstanding Republicans who thought perjury was worthy of impeachment... If it works for a president, why hasn't it worked against this administration?
Please remember, Jesselyn independently published her own story, so we need great word of mouth to get this out where it deserves!
Check out her site, and book here.
I'll sign off with her words.
He was basically a nobody, as people have said afterwards. I think they kind of went after a minnow with a sledgehammer in John Walker Lindh’s case.
Then they did that to me on a different level in a sort of parallel universe. They made an example out of me, too. All I can say is, wow -- if it happens to John Walker Lindh, a white American, right? -- and it happens to me, a white, educated U.S. citizen. And I speak English. Then you can only imagine the plight of people in this country who are Arab or Muslim, who are immigrants, who are poor, who don’t speak English.
I think they very much made an example of him, and the administration offered him up as the worst of the bad to hide the fact that they really had not caught the big fish at that point. They still haven’t today caught Osama bin Laden. At that point, they had not caught even some of the upper echelon bad guys. It was easy to make him into the poster child of the traitor. I think I was even vulnerable to having some of that sentiment, myself, until, later on, my government called me a traitor and a turncoat, and a terrorist sympathizer.
So who is next now?
Or maybe I'm just being paranoid.
At any rate, I have some stuff in the oven thats begging to be taken out before it burns and smells, and since the coding on this piece has burned me too...I have to sign off.
But take a listen to this new interview with Jesselyn Radack because she does more than tells her story. She tells the story of facism and an administration gone, "Madness, Madness, Madness!!!"