The recent execution of former Iraqi Chief Justice Awad Hamad al-Bandar has given President Bush an opportunity to repeat his claim that the US occupation of Iraq has given justice a chance to flourish in a nation where it had long been absent.
"It basically says to people, `Look, you conducted a trial and gave Saddam justice that he didn't give to others. But then, when it came to execute him, it looked like it was kind of a revenge killing,'" the President said.
But while Bush was saluting the justice system that has led to the execution of three top Iraqi officials, our own system of jurisprudence is being undermined in a manner that Saddam Hussein certainly would have found familiar.
Even though the deaths of 148 Iraqi citizens were carried out under orders given by al-Bandar, those deaths were labeled a crime against humanity because of the corruption of Saddam’s legal system. The fact that Saddam had appointed al-Bandar to serve, or at least permitted him to keep serving made the judges orders suspect. Similarly the Bush administration has at its disposal a tool to ensure that troublesome US Attorneys toe the administrations ideological mark.
The tool is contained in a little-known provision of the Patriot Act. Section 502 essentially allows the Bush administration to hand-pick candidates for US Attorney slots without going through that whole pesky Senate confirmation process. Section 502 replaces parts of Section 546 which called for Senate confirmation of the candidates.
As the legislation is now written, the President can simply appoint someone to fill a vacant federal prosecutors post. There need not be any emergency in order to enact this provision; the administration simply fills the slot. Previously, the administration had to fill the slot with the advice and consent of the US Senate. Each term would last four years. If a post became vacant during that time, the President could either nominate a new US Attorney within 120 days or a US District Judge would pick someone for the slot until a permanent candidate could be found.
Now there is no time limit on service. This means that a US Attorney could serve far longer than four years. US District Courts are taken out of the equation.
At the same time, the US Attorneys still serve at the pleasure of the President. This means that any US Attorney whose priorities did not coincide with those of the administration could summarily be given the boot.
As Senator Diane Feinstein pointed out in a speech today, a US Attorney in California already has been given her walking papers because she wanted to focus on public corruption cases rather than the administration’s preferred targets smuggling and gun cases. Certainly this will have a chilling effect on other federal prosecutors as they decide what crimes they should focus on.
Feinstein noted another seven federal prosecutors who have been given pink slips by the Bushies. There is apparently no evidence of any kind of malfeasance behind any of these abrupt "resignations." There was only a sudden decision that these individuals could no longer serve.
Interestingly, Feinstein noted that Arkansas US Attorney, Bud Cummins, was replaced by Republican operative Tim Griffin, who has been involved in opposition research. For those who don’t know, opposition research is a polite term to describe the process of digging up dirt on political rivals.
How Griffin’s career as a GOP smear merchant prepared him to serve as a federal prosecutor is anybody’s guess.
The citizens of this country have been watching their freedoms erode in order to give federal prosecutors additional tools to use on the war on terror. Despite these new prosecutorial advantages, a top government attorney recently suggested that this administration might resort to extortion in order to prevent top legal defense teams from participating in terrorism cases.
This is like a football team insisting that it be given a four-touchdown lead before a game begins, then insisting that their opponents should just leave the field for the second half.
Instead of insisting on tilting the field for prosecutors, the Bush administration and the country as a whole would be better served by qualified ethical candidates.