Intimidate the CIA, clear the Black Panthers?
Examiner Editorial
August 16, 2009
President Obama's Attorney General, Eric Holder, wants to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate charges that the Central Intelligence Agency abused alleged and proven terrorists. A successful prosecution under this inquiry would require proof that an interrogator "specifically intended to inflict severe physical or mental pain or suffering." Such an investigation has little or no chance of success. But it has an extremely high chance of intimidating intelligence operatives when they seek information that could save American lives.
It is extremely baffling why this sop for the Left would quickly become one of Obama's priorities in law enforcement. But it is less surprising in the context of the Justice Department's politicized operations under Holder. Take, for example, his decisionto overrule the Office of Legal Council's decades-old opinion that Washington, D.C., cannot be granted a voting congressional representative by statute. Holder shopped around for an alternative opinion on whether he could defend Obama in the event that he signs a bill granting a voting representative to the District.
More importantly, consider the Justice Department'streatment of jackboot-wearing members of the New Black Panther Party for Self-Defense - Malik Zulu Shabazz, Jerry Jackson and Minister King Samir Shabazz (who brandished a billy club) -- who were caught on video tape intimidating voters at a Philadelphia polling place in November. The hostile and racist intentions of the Black Panther organization are well known. Jackson, who is also an elected official in Pennsylvania's Democratic Party, listed "Killin' Crakkkas" among his interests on his MySpace page, which was extensively edited after reporters began looking into his background.
Even though career attorneys at Justice had won a default judgment against the hate group for voter intimidation, the department dismissed the case against two of the men and merely sought a restraining order against the third, rather than seeking appropriate penalties, including jail time, for all three. That decision was approved by an Obama appointee, Associate Attorney General Thomas J. Perelli. No satisfactory explanation for the decision has been tendered by anyone in the administration.
The lesson is clear enough, though: If you intimidate voters in the service of President Obama's election, your offense can be overlooked. If you rough up a few terrorists in an effort to save American lives, then the full weight of the U.S. government will be brought to bear against you. Such are the misplaced priorities at the Justice Department.
