REPUBLICAN ATTORNEYS GENERAL
The Rev. Dana Prom Smith, S.T.D., Ph.D. (3/22/07)

The history of law enforcement by Republican presidents in recent years has been spotty at best, criminal at worst. First, there was John Mitchell, the infamous Attorney General during the Nixon Administration. Intimately involved in the Watergate scandal, he was eventually convicted of conspiracy, obstruction of justice, and perjury. He was sentenced to 2 ½ to 8 years in prison. He is the only Attorney General ever to do hard time. He thought civil liberties were a threat to society.

Then, there was Edwin Meese III, who was heavily involved in the Iran Contra Scandal, and was investigated twice for illegal activities by the Office of the Independent Counsel. A close friend of Ronald Reagan as well as the Attorney General during his administration, Meese and Reagan’s defense was incompetence, as in they didn’t know what they were doing.

The Iran-Contra scandal was an illegal transaction, selling anti-tank weapons to the Iranians to fund the right-wing, drug trade Contras in Nicaragua.

Also, Caspar Weinberger, Reagan’s Secretary of State, was indicted for perjury, an indictment growing out of the Iran-Contra scandal. He was pardoned by President Bush I on grounds of his incompetence.

Now, President Bush II’s Attorney General, Alberto Gonzales, uses the incompetent defense, claiming ignorance of the sacking of federal prosecutors for political reasons. Some of the prosecutors had convicted Republican politicians for corruption and were investigating other Republican politicians, Congressman Rick Renzi amongst them. Incompetence cannot tolerate competence. They were sacked. Gonzales also thinks civil liberties are a threat to society.

With law enforcement like this, who needs criminals?

Copyright © Dana Prom Smith 2007