According to a post on
DEAwatch, Attorney general designee is championing a proposal to empty prisons by giving State and Federal convicts a chance to "serve" in the US occupation armies in Iraq and Afghanistan.
(DEAWatch is run by retired agents of the Drug Enforcement Agency, and serves as the "watercooler' for current agents.
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Word in the stairwells of Main breaking loose today talks about a planned program to raise 200,000 volunteers for military service in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The buzz is this... several months ago AG Ashcroft was reportedly approached off-the-record by Mr. Alberto Gonzales with a proposal to 1) save American taxpayers a lot of jail/prisoner maintenance bucks; 2) serve his country with his greatest contribution; 3) go down in history as having raised the largest convict army since the Crusades.
JA said "No".
People are saying JA was asked by Gonzales for Main's full-hearted cooperation in offering clemency/pardon/rap sheet cleansing deals to approx 200,000 state and federal prisoners to volunteer for special military training and service whereever their country ordered them to go... obviously... Iraq/Afghanistan. Reportedly, JA was against the idea. His feelings, reportedly, were twofold... 1) criminals cannot be trained to differentiate between good guys and bad guys... they screw over, rape or kill everyone... equally... and 2) US military medals should never be awarded to ex-cons. JA's refusal to accept the idea reportedly cost him his job and the Medal of Freedom... recently awarded to three others who performed no better, and in some cases less, than JA performed since 9/11.
With JA soon to be out of the way Mr. Bush will have no trouble getting his new AG, if appointed, to rake the US prison system for military recruits.
Needless to say, this brilliant Bush/Gonzales/Rumsfeld idea, if carried out, will be an improvement on "killing two birds with one stone"... the Travesty-Of-Justice Trio of W/Gonzo/Rummy will get to kill two jailbirds with one bullet... with the deal being that recruits must agree to serve in the warzone at the highest rank of Private First Class; 2) serve in the warzone for the duration of 'major hostilities'; 3) forego all awards of military medals for above-and-beyond or heroic service; and last but not least... 4) previous criminal history to be purged, however, although any post-service convictions will be judged as first-time offenses, any conviction while serving in the military will result in resumption of original sentence plus 30 years plus hard labor... at Leavenworth. Ouch!
