I kept looking for someone to put Ashcroft's phoney
"recusal" into its proper context. Sen. Tom Duck-It
(D-SD) failed, the NYTwits failed. Of course, Ray
McGovern has done it...
Ray McGovern: Past experience strongly suggests that if Fitzgerald is told to string the investigation out until after the November election, he may well oblige. If he is told to pin the blame on White House small fry willing to take the fall, he may do it.
Reveal the Truth about the War in Iraq, Show Up for
Democracy in 2004: Defeat Bush (again!)
http://www.buzzflash.com/contributors/04/01/con04001.html
January 1, 2004 CONTRIBUTOR ARCHIVES
Don’t Be Fooled: Still No Independent Investigation of Leak of CIA Identity
A BUZZFLASH GUEST COMMENTARY
by Ray McGovern
It seems it is all too easy to get caught up in the
holiday spirit. How else to explain the reaction of
the normally astute Senator Charles Schumer to the
news that Attorney General Ashcroft has finally done
what the New York Times lauds as "the right thing."
Schumer is quoted in today’s Times as seeing the glass
"three-quarters full" in light of Ashcroft’s decision
to recuse himself from the investigation of the
deliberate blowing of the cover of CIA official
Valerie Plame, and the decision to appoint US Attorney
Patrick Fitzgerald as "special counsel" to investigate
that felony.
Howard Dean labeled the maneuver "too little, too
late." I fear Dean is right.
Even the Times, in its "Right Thing" editorial, notes
that "there are still serious questions about the
investigation," namely, will Fitzgerald have "true
operational independence." The odds are strongly
against it.
Let not yesterday’s maneuver obscure the fact that in
naming Fitzgerald, who remains under the authority of
Ashcroft’s deputy, the Bush administration has
rejected the only appropriate course—naming a complete
outsider to be special counsel.
Why has that path been rejected? One need not be
paranoid to see this latest move as evidence the White
House has something very sensitive to hide. Has one of
their senior officials committed a felony, endangered
lives, and vitiated the ability of a senior
intelligence official to use her net of agents to
acquire critical information on weapons of mass
destruction (Valerie Plame’s portfolio)?
But a fellow named Patrick Fitzgerald, like you from
Irish immigrant stock in New York City? And out of
Harvard Law School? Surely, you should be encouraged,
I caught myself thinking. I truly wish I could be. But
I have seen far too many FBI lawyers of New York Irish
stock with misplaced loyalty to the organization over
the law; over the truth; over personal conscience.
Respect for and fealty to hierarchy was drummed into
us; individual conscience generally played second
fiddle.
Past experience strongly suggests that if Fitzgerald
is told to string the investigation out until after
the November election, he may well oblige. If he is
told to pin the blame on White House small fry willing
to take the fall, he may do it.
Besides, Fitzgerald arrives on the scene months after
the Ollie North memorial shredder has done its work.
Recall that when it was announced that the Justice
department would investigate it was made clear that
the formal order requiring administration officials to
save all relevant documents would come a day or two
later. Imagine the heat rising from the shredder
machines that weekend. And recall how the White House
counsel then insisted on reviewing all documents
before they could be given to the Justice department.
Last fall even the lawyers at Justice and the FBI were
holding their noses. The New York Times’ David
Johnston and Eric Lichtblau reported on October 16
that several senior criminal prosecutors at Justice
and the FBI were privately criticizing Ashcroft for
failing to recuse himself or appoint a special
prosecutor to investigate the crime.
But private criticism is a far cry from the more risky
step of taking a strong stand against the
organization’s chosen course of action. And politics
has become more and more important, even in the
decision making of so-called career prosecutors.
Besides that, the "us vs. them" mentality has gotten
still stronger, and many of the Bureau’s "good
soldiers" remain blissfully unaware of how much they
are affected by it.
So, even if Fitzgerald himself is determined to launch
an "unfettered" investigation, he has this company
ethic to contend with. Whether or not he keeps on John
Dion, the career lawyer who has been leading the
investigation, will be an indication of Fitzgerald’s
seriousness of purpose. It is no secret in law
enforcement circles that Dion has a poor record with
leaks, and is reluctant even to go to the men’s room
without asking permission from his superiors.
Small wonder that Valerie Plame’s husband, Joe Wilson,
has refused to express optimism at the naming of
Fitzgerald.
Not that there is no hope at all. Wilson has all along
expressed some confidence in the potential of career
FBI officials, despite the considerable hurdles, to do
the right thing—the more so since many of them know
only too well the dangers of someone blowing your
cover. And then there is the fact that Plame was
identified to no fewer than six journalists. It
appears likely that at least one of them may decide to
come forward, rather than remain, in effect, an
accomplice to a felony engineered for political
reasons.
Bottom line? As Shakespeare put it, the truth will
out—eventually. But probably not via a Fitzgerald from
within the system. And the outcome of this
investigation (like that of the search for weapons of
mass destruction in Iraq) may not see light until
after the November election.
A BUZZFLASH GUEST COMMENTARY
* * *
Ray McGovern, a 27-year career analyst with the CIA,
is co-founder of Veteran Intelligence Professionals
for Sanity and co-director of the Servant Leadership
School, an outreach ministry in the inner-city of
Washington, DC.
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