SATURDAY NEWS AND THOUGTS

It's Not About Tom

Media Blog is probably the best single source around for understanding the Tom DeLay case. And the reasons to find the case troubling as well:

Defending Tom DeLay from this prosecution does not make one a Tom DeLay apologist. I disagree with Tom DeLay on a number of issues. His statement that there was no fat left to trim out of the federal budget was appallingly stupid. I think the federal intervention into the Terri Schiavo matter at his insistence was not a proper exercise of federal power. And I do not think the prescription-drug benefit that he rammed through the U.S. House was politically necessary or fiscally wise or even defensible. This is not to mention his relationship with lobbyist Jack Abramoff, which National Review has rightly criticized.

But wrong is wrong, and there is no better word to describe Ronnie Earle's prosecution of Tom DeLay. This case is about more than Tom DeLay. It's about the intersection of bad campaign-finance laws, an obsessed prosecutor and partisan politics.

That is the truth. I got into a somewhat testy email exchange with a well-known blogger last weekend over this case and the reasons it should be cause for concern. That blogger's reasoning for not defending DeLay left me speechless--that because DeLay is "part of the problem with the Republicans in Washington right now" he essentially isn't worth defending to any great degree. That's about as short-sighted a reason as I can think of for not bothering to understand the case and, more importantly, what precedents would be set should Earle succeed. He will have jailed a man for political and entertainment reasons, on charges fabricated around a law that does not apply to the accused.

This case isn't about Tom DeLay. It's about the rule of law and the dangerous criminalization of politics.

Kofi Covers for Killers

I'll be happy when the name of the United Nations is synonymous with the word "corruption." The day when that will be true is not far off. Today, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has been caught covering for Syrian killers:

THE United Nations withheld some of the most damaging allegations against Syria in its report on the murder of Rafik Hariri, the former Lebanese Prime Minister, it emerged yesterday.

The names of the brother of Bashar al-Assad, President of Syria, and other members of his inner circle, were dropped from the report that was sent to the Security Council.

The confidential changes were revealed by an extraordinary computer gaffe because an electronic version distributed by UN officials on Thursday night allowed recipients to track editing changes.

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[T]he furore over the doctoring of the report threatened to overshadow its damaging findings. It raised questions about political interference by Kofi Annan, the UN Secretary- General, who had promised not to make any changes in the report.

One crucial change, apparently made after the report was submitted to the UN chief, removed the name of President al-Assad’s brother, Maher, his brother-in-law, Assef al-Shawkat, and other high-ranking Syrian officials.

The final, edited version quoted a witness as saying that the plot to kill Mr Hariri was hatched by unnamed “senior Lebanese and Syrian officials”. But the undoctored version named those officials as “Maher al-Assad, Assef Shawkat, Hassan Khalil, Bahjat Suleyman and Jamal al-Sayyed”.

The deleted names represent the inner core of the Syrian regime.

If there's an innocent explanation for this, it's not immediately obvious.

Mr Annan had pledged repeatedly through his chief spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, that he would not change a word of the report by Detlev Mehlis, a German prosecutor. But computer tracking showed that the final edit began at about 11.38am on Thursday — a minute after Herr Mehlis began a meeting with Mr Annan to present his report. The names of Maher al-Assad, General Shawkat and the others were apparently removed at 11.55am, after the meeting ended.

At a press conference yesterday Herr Mehlis insisted that Mr Annan had not pressurised him into making changes. “No one outside of the report team influenced these changes and no changes whatsoever were suggested by the Secretary-General,” he said.

Parse the words. No changes were suggested by the Secretary General. That leaves open the possibility that changes were made by the Secretary General.

Ace has a few more details about the story. They're worth your time.

Harriet's Charge

Robert E. Lee was arguably the most brilliant field commander that West Point ever produced. He routinely defeated armies superior in size to his own, often defying convention and by-the-book strategies to do it. But he also made mistakes, his largest occurring on July 3, 1863. On that day he sent thousands of men across a Pennsylvania field to attack an entrenched federal line that had every advantage. They had the high ground. They could see the charging rebels across about half a mile of open terrain. The federals were behind a stone wall. And they had perfect lines of defense, with unobstructed artillery that could gouge holes in the advancing rebel formations.

But Lee ordered Major Gen. George Pickett to take his men across that field anyway, and 3,000 of them never left that field alive. All 15 of Pickett's regimental commanders died. He had no division to command after the charge failed. It was said that a man could have walked across the entire field without ever touching the ground, if he was content to step on corpses.

As the survivors straggled back to Conferedate lines, Gen. Lee met them personally and took the blame. "It's all my fault. It's all my fault." The dejected, shocked men said nothing. Pickett never forgave Lee for his brutal folly.

Even the best and most able men make tragic mistakes. When they do, the honorable thing to do is admit it, correct what can be corrected and preserve your army to fight another day.

Our president needs to study some history. He has himself caught in a bloody angle over a Supreme Court nomination that has caused his own troops to turn on each other. It will take admitting error to turn things around now. But that is what needs to happen. The Miers nomination is an error, but it need not be a fatal one.