Attorney General John Ashcroft made a good, but overdue, decision Tuesday by recusing himself from a politically charged investigation.

For three months, the Justice Department has been investigating whether someone in the White House or another part of the government illegally identified CIA operative Valerie Plame to syndicated columnist Robert Novak as part of a political smear campaign.

The Bush administration has denied that top staffers were involved in the release of the information, but the close ties between White House personnel and Ashcroft make his participation in the probe suspect.

By appointing a special counsel and removing himself from the chain of command, Ashcroft has added a new jolt of seriousness and integrity to the investigation. That’s a good thing.

James Comey Jr., newly appointed deputy attorney general, will oversee the investigation, which will be conducted by Patrick Fitzgerald, a tough-as-nails U.S. attorney in Chicago.

According to reports in the Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times, Fitzgerald, while appointed by President Bush, has shown himself to be fiercely independent, pulling no punches in cases against the rich, powerful and menacing. He indicted former Illinois Gov. George Ryan, a Republican, and members of the Duff family, who are closely connected to Chicago Democratic Mayor Richard Daley. And, during his time as a prosecutor in Manhattan, he prosecuted the terrorists who bombed the World Trade Center in 1993.

The appointment of a special counsel and Ashcroft’s recusal suggest that the investigation is gaining ground and is being taken seriously, as it should be.

Knowingly outing a CIA operative is an illegal act that could jeopardize individual lives and national security. It shouldn’t be tolerated as a form of political retribution.


Suspicious


Almanacs as weapons of mass destruction?

The FBI issued a warning earlier this week to be on the look out for suspicious characters who might be carrying an almanac.

Full of useful, but very public, information, the books, according to the FBI, could be used as a reference guide by terrorists looking for targets. Maybe that’s true if they’d like to target the South Dakota State Fair but don’t know when it is (August) or the tallest building in Lincoln, Neb. (It’s the state capitol.) Otherwise, we’re skeptical.

Like an earlier call to watch out for the ubiquitous “suspicious activities,” this latest warning isn’t very pragmatic.

We can hear the 911 calls now: “I’m a concerned citizen and would like to report a man reading an almanac. He’s acting strangely. He keeps turning the pages like he’s looking for something.”

There are many things we can do to reduce the threat posed by terrorists. The government has rightly demanded that foreign air carriers put sky marshals on planes that could become terrorist targets. We could do a better job of tracking the sale and purchase of firearms to make sure terrorists aren’t buying up assault-weapon knockoffs at gun shows. We could improve the screening of cargo on planes and ships.

But putting out an alert on people reading almanacs? That sounds suspicious to us.

“Hello, 911. We’d like to report some odd behavior by the FBI.”


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