Allow John Ashcroft to Do His Job
By Christopher G. Adamo
Former National Security Advisor Sandy Berger is under criminal investigation for pilfering, and ostensibly “misplacing” classified documents that would have been highly significant to the 9/11 Commission hearings. Not surprisingly, this prominent member of the Clinton Administration is bobbing and weaving, claiming to not remember what happened to the documents, and generally evading investigators, yet all the while promising to “fully cooperate” with them.
From the moment former Justice Department official Jamie Gorelick (another Clinton appointee) appeared on the 9/11 Commission, asking questions instead of being made to answer inquiries regarding her own role in the breakdown of national security, that panel has been tainted. Rather than single-mindedly seeking to identify weaknesses in America's defenses, it displayed an obvious element of Clinton “damage control,” deflecting blame for security lapses, many of which left the country vulnerable to terrorist attack, from the Clinton Administration.
It now appears that the commission's report, to be released on July 22, will not provide Democrats with any previously hoped-for ammunition with which they intended to deride the Bush Administration over its handling of the attacks. Yet neither does it contain appropriate condemnation of blatant Clinton Administration bungling of security during the eight years that it was in power.
No doubt the pursuit of Berger, an effort critical to recognizing and patching the leaks in national security, will shortly bring accusations from the left of being a “partisan witch hunt” by President Bush and Attorney General John Ashcroft. But if this administration cares more about the security of the American homeland than it does about its image among the partisan media, it will ignore such catcalls and diligently pursue the truth regarding Berger's involvement in a likely cover-up.
Commission members have already attempted to put Ashcroft in the “hot seat,” calling him before them to explain why, in the few months between his delayed confirmation as Attorney General and the September 11 attacks, he had not done a more thorough job of analyzing available evidence and recognizing the imminent threat of terrorism.
Fortunately, Ashcroft came out swinging, bluntly identifying Gorelick as the individual who fabricated the bureaucratic nightmare that prevented the CIA and FBI from sharing crucial information. Appropriate access to such information might have allowed them to “connect the dots” in order to establish probable attack scenarios and thus avert them.
Ashcroft distinguished himself in this manner once before. In the immediate wake of the attacks, he was summoned to Capitol Hill in order to account for what some Democrats asserted was an excessive use of power when dealing with terrorist suspects. Rather than respond defensively, Ashcroft pointed to the fact that, in the months following 9/11, no further incidents had transpired. Since that time, al Qaeda detainees have admitted that America's response to that horrendous event was much more profound and comprehensive than they had anticipated, and thus their intentions of perpetrating further incidents were completely thwarted.
When allowed to be himself and fulfill his sworn oath of office, John Ashcroft proves himself to be entirely capable of upholding justice while rooting out criminal elements that threaten the nation. Unfortunately, on too many occasions he has apparently been restrained for some unknown reason (most likely resulting from the President's misbegotten devotion to a “new tone” in Washington).
Ashcroft needs to recognize that, unless he pursues Clinton's criminal activities, his own tenure as Attorney General will become tainted by them. By overlooking past abuses of government authority, Ashcroft sends a message to America that such excesses apparently aren't a matter of great concern.
Sandy Berger's actions were neither the only, nor the worst misdeeds of the Clinton years to come to light that might warrant criminal investigation. From the petty vandalism of White House property in the last days before Clinton's departure, to the sharing of plans for the W-88 nuclear warhead with the Chinese (an act that rivals anything ever perpetrated by the Rosenbergs), the previous administration has a long track record of corruption that was never sufficiently dealt with.
Berger's destruction of vital evidence, and his subsequent obfuscation, are merely ingredients of a continuing pattern, spearheaded by Bill Clinton, whereby the nation's well-being has repeatedly been subordinated to his disgraceful obsession with his own interests. Justice will only be served when Clinton is branded as the point man in this ploy, and the many other inexcusable compromises of national security for which America has only begun to pay a price.
|
