Political Prosecutions

Certain things make me feel like I've got bugs crawling out of my eyes and one of those things is political prosecutions. Two headlines converged yesterday and I haven't seen any commentary that combined the two. First, the conviction of Scooter Libby for perjury and obstruction of justice lead the national news. I have to say that I was always opposed to the Iraq War and even the Afghanistan War before they ever even started and am completely disgusted with the Bush Administration's efforts to hornswaggle the U.S. into an Iraqi invasion. Yet, I feel for Scooter Libby, because he is caught in legal machinations that are far beyond anything he may have done. (You need to remember that he isn't charged with disclosing Valerie Plame's identity, but lying about who might have and that whoever did disclose has not been, nor will ever be prosecuted.)

The second news item was the testimony of four ousted U.S. Attorneys testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee about being replaced because of their refusal to pursue political prosecutions. Kudos to the prosecutors who refused to succumb, but what about those who didn't?

The message of both of these stories is the same: Criminal prosecutions are a political tool. Prosecutors hold a quasi-judicial role, in which they should represent the interest of the people, not a political party or political position.

If anything, I'd want people to look with huge skepticism at prosecutions that could have a political motivation. This is the same skeptical approach to any exercise of group power. I have an on-going debate with my brother, who tilts heavily to the right, about what or who is to be most feared. I fear groups -- government, religion, and courts -- because their capacity to do harm unabated is far greater than any one lone crazy individual. He thinks the individual criminal/terrorist element is to be the most feared. Of course, his fear is misplaced.

The larger, the more organized the group, the greater the capacity to do harm to the individual. The last week I've watched footage from World War II Germany and have been reading the new book of George Weller's censored news accounts from Nagasaki one month after the atomic bomb went off, First Into Nagasaki. Our modern problems pale in comparison to the massive destruction inflicted in World War II by both sides. Our recent excursion into Iraq shows just how much damage the concerted effort of our country can inflict. The American capability to inflict violence makes the 9-11 terrorist efforts pale in comparison.

Humans seem destined to want to inflict pain and suffering on other humans. Groups most love to inflict pain on disaffected individuals or on other groups. The only check that we have on the use of violence by the group is a legal system or the rule of law. The perversion of the rule of law to point the guns specifically for the powerful is what makes the political prosecution so insidious.