Reform Justice too, Mr. Ashcroft

On Monday, Attorney General John Ashcroft, in a speech given at FBI headquarters, outlined a “series of blunders” committed by the agency of late that have, in his words, “injured the public’s trust.”

Wouldn’t you have loved to have been a fly on the wall in some of the FBI break rooms and lounges after that speech? I can only imagine what many agents were saying to themselves after Ashcroft essentially blamed them for every miscarriage of justice over the past decade.

The “series of blunders” Ashcroft discussed during his speech – Ruby Ridge, Waco and spy Robert Hanssen – were casually blamed on the FBI as though the bureau’s agents received no input or guidance at all from Justice Department officials.

Indeed, all of these incidents could have been handled better. But what needs to be said here is that the FBI, for all intents and purposes, is a division of the Justice Department, which in turn is led by the attorney general – a political appointee.

And in any high-profile case, don’t for one second think that the bureau’s managers are allowed to operate independently of that political appointee or the president who made the appointment.

WND’s Paul Sperry explained in an article earlier this week how this song-and-dance works.

Regarding the Clinton-Gore campaign finance scandal, FBI agents were routinely ahead of the curve. They knew who was most responsible for making the illegal donations; where the money was coming from; and – perhaps most importantly – who the money was going to.

Yet every time they got close enough to make arrests, agents were prevented from doing so by some two-bit lawyer schmuck at Justice or, in many cases, by former Attorney General Janet Reno herself.

And here’s another thing. Why do you suppose even former FBI agents are forbidden by law from ever discussing any cases? It’s because some of what these agents know could damage the reputations of the power elite or, in lots of cases, probably cause them to wind up in jail.

Worse, Ashcroft – a longtime Washington insider – knows how this game is played. He knows that many federal agencies – especially the FBI and IRS – are abused by the power elite to keep critics quiet and nosy busybodies from learning the truth.

Is every FBI agent honest? Full of integrity? The picture of decency and morality?

Hell, no.

But can Justice Department officials claim these qualities?

Ashcroft cannot seriously discuss the issue of “reforming” the FBI without acknowledging that the same kind of reforms are necessary in his own department. Anything less is just another phony Washington dog-and-pony show and will do nothing to regain the people’s trust.