The New York Times > National > Justice Dept. Seeks End to Its Detroit Terror Case
Even with all the prosecutorial enhancements this Justice Department has received (including, but not limited to, the PATRIOT Act), it still cannot effectively prosecute an accused terrorist. If one accepts that Mr. Convertino, the assigned prosecutor, is a rogue, he was allowed to botch this case by his superiors. I know dozens of people at Justice. Typically, prosecutors at DOJ are very closely watched, nitpicked, and even second-guessed by their chiefs (much to the dismay of the primary attorney), especially with high profile cases such as this.
If one accepts Convertino's assertions that "he was assigned only a barebones staff and could not have monitored every piece of information" and that "the bureaucracy prevented him from seeing some of the evidence uncovered by the government," the blame goes to his superiors. Ultimately, this means Ashcroft.
This administration has made fighting terrorism abroad the centerpiece of its bid for a second term. Perhaps it should give some thought to how it is handling the fight at home. Regardless of whether there is a second Bush term, there should definitely not be another Ashcroft term.
