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opinion:
our view
Top cops remind
us of Stooges
Just when it seemed
the execution of Timothy McVeigh would bring some much-delayed
national closure, the FBI has managed to not only reopen a gaping
wound, but also rub in a shaker full of salt as well.
With the execution
only days away, the agency revealed they had withheld thousands
of pages of documents from McVeigh's attorneys, a blatant
violation of his civil rights, no matter how unwilling a citizen
he may be.
In light of this
case, newspaper reports are rife with the numerous mistakes
the FBI has made, both recently and in the distant past.
These include incriminating documents regarding the Branch
Davidian incineration in Waco, Texas, the Wen Ho Lee witch
hunt, numerous mistakes made by the FBI crime labs, and most
heartwarmingly, that the agency had suppressed evidence in
the 1963 church bombing in Birmingham, Ala., that killed four
black girls.
The loss of the
files was blamed on an inefficient computer system, through
which many of the files were lost. That may be so, but how
does this explain the previous mistakes, both accidental and
intended.
You can almost
hear FBI Director Louis Freeh, who announced last week he
was leaving his ten-year term two years early, echoing Jack
Nicholson in "Terms of Endearment." Scandal has
caught Freeh with one foot out the door as he laments, "I
was this close to a clean getaway."
Not to be overlooked
in all of this are President Bush's comical and bewildering
comments that McVeigh should be thankful to live the United
States, a "country who [sic] will bend over backwards
to make sure that his constitutional rights are guaranteed."
Hmmm, a federal
law enforcement agency, which after royally screwing up a
major investigation, had its hide saved at the last minute
when the error was publicly admitted. McVeigh is just thankful
the U.S. Justice Department was not in charge of the case,
because they would not have admitted the error until months
after the execution.
McVeigh has recanted
his previous wish to die as quickly as possible and now his
lawyers are talking about seeking a second stay of execution.
The withheld evidence is unlikely to exonerate him, since
he has already confessed, but all of this will likely add
to the McVeigh myth.
Bill Clinton has
stated to friends his regret in naming Freeh to head the FBI,
since the top cop doggedly investigated all of the president's
wrongdoings, though the same cannot be said of Janet Reno
as attorney general.
Little did we know
that the agency was rotting from within, as shown by the instances
cited above, in addition to the Robert Hanssen, the FBI double
agent who funneled secrets to the Russians, all to save the
soul of a stripper.
Now, more than
ever, credibility needs to be restored to what should be the
pinnacle of law enforcement in the United States.
New U.S. Attorney
General John Ashcroft, or Torquemada as we like to call him,
still gives us the willies, with his daily Bible sessions
and his faith-based sense justice.
When choosing Freeh's
successor, President Bush should base the decision on qualifications,
not on partisan desirability. The integrity of our legal system
depends on it.
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