The John Adams Project

Few things shock me anymore, but last night one did. Fox News ran a story on an outfit called the John Adams Project. The John Adams Project is a concoction of the American Civil Liberties Union and a group calling itself the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. The Project"s goal: to out CIA agents engaged in the war on terror, placing them and their families' lives in mortal peril. Take a look:

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The ACLU has a long and spotty record open to public inspection. If you're not familiar with the NACDL one look at their legislative agenda will tell you about all you need to know:

• They continue to press for the right to sue telecom companies whose lines were legally tapped to gain valuable insight into terrorist operations overseas
• They oppose sex offender registration and community notification laws
• They supported the Gang Abatement and Prevention Act of 2007 which sought to replace tough enforcement of anti-gang laws with--you guessed it--throwing more tax dollars at the problem

So it's no surprise that these two far left groups have hooked up. The incoherence of their mission was summed up by Ms. Ginsburg in her impromptu Fox interview:

• She first denies that she was involved in the Project, then speaks intimately of its activities
• She denies the accusation (that they are putting the lives in danger) and instead blames the victims (the agents) saying that it is they who are putting the lives of soldiers in danger
• She denies that their researchers are tracking down these agents, a statement belied by her knowledge of the situation
• She justifies the Project's actions, which may be illegal (disclosing the identities of clandestine agents), on the grounds that the Justice Department won't disclose the details of the enhanced interrogation techniques used in the aftermath of 9-11, even though the actions of the agents have been examined and reexamined over the last 8 years

Perhaps most troubling of all, Ms. Ginsburg says ironically that "people in this country have a right to defend themselves." How about the right of the agents to defend themselves? This group whose mission is defense isn't defending anyone; they are attacking a group of individuals who did their job according to the rules they were given at a time of unparalled crisis in the nation's history. The Adams Project is setting itself up as judge, jury and potentially executioner of these agents. To quote Justice Clarence Thomas, this is nothing but a high-tech lynching.

It's up to Attorney General Eric Holder to investigate whether the John Adams Project is breaking any laws. But the attorney general has already opened up yet another investigation into the enhanced interrogation techniques that took place after 9-11. It's doubtful he'll do anything. If he wanted to act in the interest of fairness, he'd have the special prosecutor look into the John Adams Project while he's looking into enhanced interrogation for the 99th time. But don't hold your breath. 

The most upsetting aspect of this situation is that groups like the John Adams Project feel emboldened enough to take the law into their own hands. This is the political climate we now have in this country. We've become a country of intolerance on the left and on the right. When a group of militant, self-righteous lawyers ginned up by a Messianic fervor can violate someone's rights with impunity we as a country have lost our moral compass.

Just thought you might like to know.

The Gathering Storm

It was back in April that Attorney General Eric Holder memoed CIA employees, writing that "(i)t would be unfair to prosecute dedicated men and women working to protect America for conduct that was sanctioned in advance by the Justice Department." Apparently, his boss failed to read the memo.

Yesterday, Attorney General Holder backpeddled and reversed direction, announcing the appointment of a special prosecutor to investigate so-called "CIA crimes" that took place in the aftermath of 9-11.

In doing so, he has opened up a firestorm that will consume many good employees at the CIA, the nation's early detection system against terrorist threats, and any shred of bipartisanship that may still exist in some dark corner of Washington. And, it may ultimately consume his boss along with it--much in the same way that Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon and Jimmy Carter allowed their presidencies consumed by Vietnam, Watergate and Iran, respectively.

Let's review the timeline on how we got to this point in the first place:

1. The CIA's Inspector General commissioned the first investigation into allegations of prisoner torture early in George W. Bush's first term
   
2. The CIA supplied both houses of Congress with unedited copies of its investigative report in 2004
3. The Bush Administration turned over the IG's findings to the Justice Department for review to see if any further action was warranted
4. Justice Department career attorneys, not political appointees as the Obama administration would have us believe reviewed those findings
5. The Justice Department spent a great deal of time--in fact, years--investigating the allegations
6. After all that, DOJ brought only one case, that of a private contractor who had beaten a detainee who subsequently died
7. In December 2008 Carl Levin (D-Michigan), a relic of the 1970s, began calling on the incoming Obama administration to hold Stalinist-type show trials for Bush administration officials on the issue of CIA interrogation methods (see our post from December 29, 2009)
8. The ACLU sued for public release of the 2004 classified CIA report
9. Attorney General Holder in April, after looking into the matter, declines to investigate further
   
10. A court orders the Justice Department to release the CIA findings

But maybe we should take this chronology a little further...

1. The tall pole in the administration's tent--nationalized healthcare--begins to collapse in June in the face of the hard facts about healthcare
   
2. Polls in July show for the first time a majority of Americans oppose what has become known as "ObamaCare"
   
3. By August the President's once enormous popularity has been whittled down to about 50%
   
4. The President stumps for ObamaCare in the Rockies, but can't move the needle in the polls on healthcare
   
5. Mr. Obama high-tails it to Martha's Vineyard for vacation, removing himself from the national spotlight for a week till things die down a bit
   
6. Eric Holder announces appointment of the special prosecutor to investigate the allegations of CIA-inspired "torture"
   

Nothing in Washington politics happens by accident. The timing of all this could not have been orchestrated better. Mr. Obama disappears, leaving a news void. A story that is five years old reappears on the front page, replacing daily coverage of angry Americans opposed to the President's healthcare plan. Opposition to ObamaCare cools a bit. The President's leftist base, a small but vocal minority, is appeased and re-energized to fight the final battle for healthcare when Congress returns from its summer recess.

But this could be a fatal misstep. Mr. Obama's political instincts, lauded so greatly during the campaign, have deserted him, much as the instincts of Lyndon Johnson, one of the greatest political minds of our time, deserted him during Vietnam. Mr. Obama is as out of touch with the public as President Johnson was in the 1960s. Like Presidents Johnson, Nixon and Carter, Mr. Obama is ill-served by a cadre of career Beltway advisers for whom governance is a board game, not public service. 

Mr. Obama fashions himself as a modern day Lincoln. But perhaps his antecedents are a lot closer than he thinks--three men in succession in the 1960s and '70s. Three men who, frankly, outpaced him in intelligence, experience, and instinct. And while they were Mr. Obama's betters, they engineered their own downfalls by failing to escape storms that they themselves started. 

Just thought you might like to know.