The U.S. Attorney Massacre of late 2006 was something that broke largely in the blogosphere--and was the subject of hundreds of diaries here at Daily Kos--before the MSM caught on to one of the bigger scandals of the Bush administration.
I know, I know. I should not be surprised. The Justice Department's decision yesterday that no criminal charges will be filed in the Bush administration's dismissal of 9 U.S. Attorneys is part of the whole
looking forwards, not backwards
mantra.
But if we are going to look past the most horrific crimes of the Bush administration--torture, warrantless wiretapping, political firings--then it makes it particularly grotesque and obscene that the Obama administration is willing to continue--and ratchet up--Bush-era investigations into people who tried to do the right thing, like NSA whistleblower Thomas Drake and reporter James Risen.
Nora Dannehy, who was appointed by former Attorney General Michael Mukasey to look into USA gate, recommended against further action yesterday.
According to a letter from Assistant Attorney General Ronald Weich to Congress,
there is insufficient evidence to show that any witness made prosecutable false statements . . . or corruptly endeavored to impede a congressional inquiry.
http://www.talkleft.com/...
I call bullsh*t. There are detailed descriptions--including congressional testilying (that's not a typo) regarding witness tampering, subornation of perjury, false statements to the government, and obstruction of justice. We all cheered when Mukasey has appointed a special prosecutor to continue the inquiry. Little did we know Obama would end it.
Let me refresh your recollection:
David Iglesias, Kevin Ryan, Bud Cummins, Margaret Chiara, Paul Charlton, Carol Lam, Daniel Bodgen, John McKay . . . At least 5 of them, from blue states in the West and Southwest, were presiding over major public-corruption probes targeting Republican politicians or their supporters. At least two were replaced by Republican political operatives. In perhaps the most well-known case, former Senator Pete Domenici (R-N.M.) and Representative Heather Wilson called U.S. Attorney David Iglesias (shortly before the election) to pressure him to accelerate a probe on voter fraud investigations of Democrats.
Six of the ousted U.S. Attorneys testified before Congress that they felt pressured and threatened by the Justice Department and/or White House and experiened politically-driven retaliation for exercising their independence and prosecutorial discretion.
Meanwhile, the Obama administration has indicted Thomas Drake, a former NSA senior official, who blew the whistle on massive fraud, waste, abuse and illegality related to secret surveillance programs. He's charged under the Espionage Act with, in essence, being a "spy" on our country for, like so many other Bush-ear whistleblowers, revealing the truth.
He's a SPY for revealing their LIE? He's a SPY for revealing our government SPYING illegally on us? Contrary to what the spinmasters would have you think, his case is not about hime giving classified information to a reporter. Drake never gave classified information to a reporter. The indictment weaves a wild tale about this, but only charges him with "retention" of classified information.
Please call Attorney General Holder to express your outrage: (202) 514-2001. Please also "like" the Save Tom Drake Facebook page. I remember how it felt to be forced from my job for political, not performance reasons, and to be the subject of a pretextual federal criminal leak investigation case. Kossacks kept me alive. Please share some of that same support with another whistleblower--the 4th person in U.S. history to be indicted under the Espionage Act for "leaking."