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Saturday, May 31, 2003
posted by gbarto at 7:18 PM:
Olympic Bombing Suspect NabbedRookie cop arrests Eric Rudolph, the fugitive charged with the 1996 Olympic Park bombing in Atlanta; Rudolph was found sifting through a trash bin in the mountains of North Carolina
Ah, for the good old days, when our bombings were done by domestic crazies. Well, except for the first bombing of the WTC, the bombing of the Cole and the bombing of our African embassies and the bombing of our troops in Saudi Arabia...
Hmmm... Clinton has bemoaned that the war on terror has given Bush a stature boost that the placid times of his administration denied him, but was the administration that blew up the Waco compound over weapons violations and accusations of child abuse (founded) incapable of locating a cause for action in the bombing of buildings on US soil and of our people around the world? In my recollection, the Clinton administration chose to lobby cruise missiles and declare victory rather than risk the entanglements into which Bush has got himself in his efforts to truly crack down. Clinton, I think, was afraid of the responsibility that taking up such a charge would entail.
Anyway, there is a sub-head:
Richard Jewell Attorney: Arrest Doesn't Undo Harm
Jewell is the man who, despite having bungled everything he'd ever done, briefly emerged as a hero in the bombing, then was accused by the FBI of plotting it to make himself look like a hero. And the attorney is correct; Jewell is one of the many who experienced the kind of hatchett jobs that became de rigeur for our government during the Clinton years. His treatment is a reminder of how cynically that administration moved, but also of how cynical and dangerous the FBI can be. It is fitting that a rookie cop caught the real suspect, for it reminds that FBI is not all it's cracked up to be. It's just another bunch of law enforcement agents under the pressures their mission and their institutional culture bring to bear. Which is why if we're serious about keeping the war on terror from becoming the war on us, the libertarians among us will chant the name of Richard Jewell every time we're told that the FBI is so great that it doesn't matter if the rules apply to them or not.
While we're on this point, I'll refine my formula for determining whether it's appropriate for the government or a branch of government to get a new power:
- If you supported Clinton, write a 10 page paper on why you think Richard Nixon should have had this power.
- If you like Bush, write a 10 page paper on why you think Bill Clinton should have had this power.
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