THE DAILY BLADE: Tancredo: Gonzales Must Go
On the heels of the Senate’s 94-2 vote to pass a bill voiding a provision in the Patriot Act that allowed the attorney general to appoint U.S. attorneys without Senate confirmation Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-CO) called for Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to resign. Reports KDVR-Fox 31 (Denver):
"Gonzales' legacy at the DOJ has been one of misplaced priorities, political miscalculation, and a failure to enforce the laws which he has sworn to uphold," he said. "I think that it is time for him to move on."
Tancredo faulted several Justice Department decisions dealing with border crimes, including the prosecution of two border patrol agents for shooting a Mexican drug smuggler and trying to cover it up.
Tancredo said Gonzales should have overturned local and state "sanctuary" policies, which Tancredo said allow people to help illegal immigrants avoid deportation.
Tancredo also said Gonzales should have gotten tough on nations that resist U.S. attempts to return foreigners who have broken U.S. laws.
Tancredo won’t get an argument on any of this from The Stiletto. However, there is a more compelling reason than failure to enforce immigration laws to get rid of Gonzales: His utter indifference towards Sandy Berger’s theft and destruction of documents pertaining to 9/11 from the National Archives and Records Administration.
According to The Washington Post, Paul Brachfeld, inspector general of the National Archives, "wanted the Justice Department to notify officials of the 9/11 Commission that Berger's actions - in combination with a bungled Archives response - might have obstructed the commission's review of Clinton's terrorism policies." According to the WaPo:
The Justice Department spurned the advice … But more than three years later, as Brachfeld and House lawmakers have pushed new details about Berger's actions onto the public record -- such as Berger's use of a construction site near the Archives to temporarily hide some of the classified documents - Brachfeld's contentions have attracted fresh support.
A [January report] by the Republican staff of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee said for the first time that Berger's visits were so badly mishandled that Archives officials had acknowledged not knowing if he removed anything else and destroyed it. …
[Philip Zelikow, the commission's former executive director] said in an interview … "I think all of my colleagues would have wanted to have all the information at the time that we learned from the congressional report, because that would have triggered … questions we could have posed to Berger under oath." …
Brachfeld pressed Justice Department officials on six occasions in 2004 to make a fuller statement to the commission about Berger's actions, to no avail. He also contacted Justice Department Inspector General Glenn A. Fine, who organized an April 2004 meeting between Brachfeld and Justice officials that convinced him that "these issues had to go before the 9/11 Commission," according to two people present. …
[W]ell after Berger testified to the commission, "the Department had not yet asked Mr. Berger any questions, as he had not yet agreed to an interview." …
Judge Deborah A. Robinson imposed a stiffer penalty in the case than the Justice Department sought, fining Berger a total of $56,905, canceling his security clearance, and requiring monthly reporting to a probation officer for two years.
Columnist Michael Barone points out that, "Some of these documents may have been unique and may have contained handwritten comments that could have looked bad in light of what happened on September 11." Then he asks the $64K question: "Did Bill Clinton ask him to destroy documents that would make him look bad in history? I get a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach when I ask that question. But this or something very much like it seems to be the only explanation that makes sense."
To be sure, most of the screw-ups and shoulder shrugging at DOJ predates Gonzales’ tenure. But he could have turned the heat up on Berger from Day One for a full accounting – for instance, why he destroyed multiple copies of the same document - instead of allowing him to plead guilty to a misdemeanor in April 2005, and get off with a slap on the wrist. Thanks to Gonzales, the American people, the 9/11 Commission and historians as yet unborn will never know the whole truth about 9/11 and the Clinton Administration’s failure to recognize the grave and gathering threat stalking the U.S.
For that alone, Gonzales must go.
One Man’s Mede Is Another Man’s Persian
The Stiletto generally avoids movies based on Xbox games and graphic novels, but makes an exception for Frank ("Sin City") Miller - so "300" is on her must-see list. As an added lure, the Spartan battle epic has Ahmadinejad’s kafiya all in a knot.
In its second weekend, "300" has already shattered the $100 million mark and is the biggest hit of the new year, according to the Los Angeles Times. [Click here to see the trailer.]
Newsweek’s Evan Thomas explains the movie’s allure to its roughly 60 percent male audience:
The Persians in "300" are the forces of evil: dark-skinned, depraved and determined to terrorize the West. The noble, light-skinned Spartans possess a fierce love of liberty, not to mention fierce six-pack abs. "Freedom is not free," says the wife of Spartan King Leonidas. … Miller's post-9/11 conservatism (he is reportedly working on a new graphic novel pitting Batman against Al Qaeda, titled "Holy Terror, Batman!") suffuses his comic-book fantasies. Perhaps it's no surprise, then, that "300" resonates for some real warriors. At a theater near Camp Pendleton outside San Diego, cheers erupted at a showing of "300," the Los Angeles Times reported. The Marines ("The Few, the Proud") identify with the outnumbered Spartans. In fact, "Gates of Fire," a novelized version of the Battle of Thermopylae by Steven Pressfield, is on the Marine Corps commandant's recommended reading list.
But what about the film’s sizeable female audience? Some are going to see "hunky star Gerard Butler, whose cult following took off with 2004's ‘The Phantom of the Opera,’" reports the Los Angeles Times. But the film's "heroic theme" is also a draw:
Suzanne Packard, 40, a health club assistant manager in suburban Baltimore, said the story of heroic sacrifice roused emotions in a manner similar to "Braveheart" and "Gladiator."
"These guys were resolute. They knew they weren't going to come back but they did what they had to do and they didn't complain," said Packard, who also had seen the film twice.
"That speaks to women."
The dual-audience appeal of "300" could mean that Americans are not buying into the cut-and-run – um, "phased withdrawal" – Iraq war plan that the Dem presidential candidates are pushing, and that "Soccer Moms" have morphed into "Security Moms" for the duration of the War on Terror.
Despite all the opinion surveys that indicate otherwise, do the "300" box office receipts suggest that the average American is as resolute and determined today as on 9/11/2001 to prevail against the dark forces of Islamofascism – no matter what it takes?
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