MLT,
Fine article, and I'm just angry enough this morning to post the whole thing!
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(quote)
The Washington Times; Opinion
Published in Washington, D.C. 5am -- September 7, 1999
www.washtimes.com
White House By Mark R. Levin
Virtually every federal department has been corrupted under President
Bill Clinton. The Commerce Department was used to sell seats on foreign
trade missions in exchange for campaign cash. The Interior Department
cannot account for billions of dollars in Indian trust monies, and top
appointees were using their positions to conduct opposition research and
smear members of Congress.
The Energy Department became the plaything of the Red Chinese, who
looted our nation's nuclear secrets at will. The Environmental Protection
Agency planted false evidence in a federal lawsuit for which two
employees have now been indicted. The Treasury Department has set up
a community-banking program that benefits longtime Clinton friends.
Even the White House was used as a presidential fund-raising casino.
But nowhere is the corruption more acute than at the Justice
Department. The writing was on the wall in the first days of the Clinton
administration. In an unprecedented move, the new attorney general,
Janet Reno, ordered the firing of all 93 United States attorneys. She
dragged her feet in seeking the appointment of an independent counsel
to investigate the Whitewater scandal, only doing so after the president,
remarkably, requested the appointment.
Throughout the Paula Jones sexual assault litigation, Miss Reno directed
Justice Department attorneys to file briefs on behalf of the United States
government in defense of Mr. Clinton's indefensible and unconstitutional
immunity claims, which the U.S. Supreme Court rejected unanimously.
For the past five years, Miss Reno has attempted to undermine
Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr's investigation by siding with Mr.
Clinton on specious privilege assertions. Every court in which these
claims were asserted dismissed them.
And based on false allegations of payoffs to a key Whitewater witness,
leveled by Clinton cronies such as former Arkansas Senator David Pryor
(who heads the Clinton legal defense fund) and writers for the Internet
magazine Salon (which is funded largely by Clinton campaign
contributors), Miss Reno ordered an investigation of Mr. Starr's office and
several of the president's critics.
Of course, no wrongdoing was found. Moreover, Miss Reno has impeded
all serious attempts to investigate the Clinton-Gore campaign finance
scandal. She rejected the recommendation of FBI Director Louis Freeh,
and her former chief of the Campaign Finance Task Force, Charles
LaBella, to seek the appointment of an independent counsel to
investigate the matter.
Miss Reno's tortured reading of the since-expired Independent Counsel
Act prevented an investigation of Vice President Al Gore's illegal
fund-raising from his White House office. She has obstructed repeatedly
Congress's constitutional oversight authority with a songbook that
includes such greatest hits as: I'm damned if I do, I'm damned if I don't;
I won't talk about matters currently under investigation; I'll follow the
facts and law wherever they lead.
She holds Congress in contempt and is dismissive of its responsibilities.
No one has done more to politicize the justice system in this country and
to protect a corrupt president and a lawless administration than Janet
Reno. It should come as no surprise, therefore, that Miss Reno's actions
in the ongoing Waco scandal are wholly consistent with her past
performance.
In spite of long-standing allegations that the government concealed the
true nature of its operations against the Branch Davidians, resulting in
the deaths of more than 80 people, Miss Reno sat on her hands and did
nothing.
Not until the Texas Rangers and private litigants uncovered evidence of
military gas canisters --the use of which Miss Reno denied in testimony
before Congress -- did she acknowledge their use. And not until Mr.
Freeh and members of Congress from both parties called for an
independent investigation did she consent.
When Miss Reno ordered last week the U.S. Marshals to confiscate a
videotape of the Waco assault from the FBI, this was nothing more than
a typical Clintonoid stunt. She hopes to shift responsibility for this
debacle from herself to her subordinate, Mr. Freeh. And she is joined in
that effort by many congressional Democrats and other Clinton spin
troopers who appreciate her key role in preserving this presidency.
However, Miss Reno was the general in charge of the Waco operation.
She had the power to order the assault or to prevent it. She had the
power to order and ensure a thorough and timely investigation six years
ago.
A cult of personality has been manufactured around Miss Reno in an
attempt to portray her as an individual of great integrity. But we're not a
government of cults or personalities, and Miss Reno's record
demonstrates that she is unworthy of her public trust. Nevertheless, she
won't resign. So, the Justice Department will continue to burn while Janet
Reno fiddles.
Mark R. Levin is president of Landmark Legal Foundation.
(unquote)(I re-paragraphed the article, in some places, to make it easier to read.)
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Interesting. Freeh asked for an independent investigation of Waco! Is he not completely in charge of his own people? Might he become the expected "sacrificial lamb"?
(Good article, MLT!)
