The Plot Thickens

In a previous post, I mentioned the clash between Sen. Charles Grassley and AG Eric Holder in regard to the politically appointed lawyers in the Department of Justice. The nut of the problem is that the Iowa Senator requested from Holder to identify those lawyers and the cases they had been involved in, which involved alleged or convicted terrorists. Grassley’s request had come after the names of Jennifer Daskal, who had been senior counsel for Human Rights Watch, and Neal Katyal, who was lead counsel for the Guantanamo Bay detainees in the Supreme Court case Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, had been made public

After months had gone by since the senator’s request, Holder finally responded with a letter that stated that there were nine appointees that had been somewhat involved in cases regarding terrorists, but, in what appears to be a clear act of defiance of Congress, Holder continues to refuse to identify the bunch.

The obvious question, then, should be: what is Holder hiding and why?

The American Spectator has today a piece that is very interesting. According to unnamed DoJ sources, the number of lawyers involved in the potential handling of terrorists is not nine but between thirteen and sixteen, which would actually mean that Holder either was not competent in researching what Grassley requested or he just plainly gave the senator false information.

The same source at Justice also provided some of the potential names. Here is directly from the article:

Associate Attorney General Thomas Perrelli, a partner at Jenner &
Block and former classmate of Barack Obama's at Harvard who was brought in to
serve as chief counsel to Deputy Attorney General David Ogden.

Brian Hauck and Donald Verrilli, both of whom worked with
Perrelli at Jenner & Block, are also senior officials at DOJ; Hauck is
counsel to the associate attorney general; Verrilli's portfolio as associate
deputy attorney general includes advising on national security matters.

Lanny Breuer, Holder's former partner at Covington & Burling,
and current head of the DOJ's criminal division.

Tony West, assistant attorney general for the Civil Division, who
represented "American Taliban" John Walker Lindh, and has strong ties to leftist
former Democrat House member and current Oakland mayor, Ron Dellums.

And the list goes on from there.

The Science Monitor piece also contains another revelation that for most Liberals/Progressives will sound like nothing, but to me it smells like bloody chum in the water.
Again according to the anonymous source at Justice, the same lawyers who are singled out to having been involved in the defense of known terrorists, may have leaked to organizations like Human Rights Watch the identities and addresses of CIA operatives who had been involved in the so-called “enhanced interrogations”, renamed “tortures” by the anti-Bush propaganda machine.
Eventually, that information would make its way to the Media who would go to the extent to seek these operatives at their residences and take their pictures in the attempt to publicize them.

So Holder’s actions are, once again, most questionable. He is defying Congress to maintain the anonymity of political appointees who should not be anywhere close to being involved with any legal procedure against terrorists. And the people whose identity he is protecting are the same ones who insure that the identity of CIA operatives would be made public, jeopardizing their safety and that of their families.

Isn’t it time for someone in Congress to demand that Obama fire AG Holder? How much subterfuge is this man going to be allowed to get away with right in the face of the American people?

Just my thoughts!