Tell-It-Like It Was Letter Doesn't Surpise Those Who Know Rowley

Minneapolis Star-Tribune ^ | May 25, 2002 | David Chanen and Jon Tevlin

[Paul Ross]

To those who know her, Coleen Rowley is a dedicated and diligent foot soldier for the FBI. She knows the rules, follows them, and even enforces them as the chief legal counsel and agent in charge of ethical practices for the Minneapolis office.

[Paul Ross]

Interesting how the liberal press in this article appears to have gone out of its way trying to dig up dirt on the whistle-blower, rather than on those who obstructed the investigation up in Washington, D.C.

[MonroeDNA]

It's nice how the clintoon smear guys are out of power. They would have trashed her.

The press is so inadequate without the guidance of their (former) masters.

[Paul Ross]

Yes, the War Room is a trifle underfunded nowadays. Hillary will be remedying that soon, unfortunately.

[at bay]

Bizarre unwarranted comment. Heroine Coleen for Director, the new FBI. Fracas, Farcas, Fresca, whatever his name, for God's sakes, what does it take to get fired from the Bureau? David Frasca's inactions cost this country dearly.

[secretagent]

I don't get your comment about the liberal press trying to dig up dirt on Rowley. This article seemed to me nothing but laudatory of her.

[nathanbedford]

This article merely continues the deification of this woman which we have already seen at least once in this forum. My suspicion is that she is quite liberal and we won't find that out until she has enough credibility to get a hearing and then we might not like what we hear.

She is not a case worker but a public relations/lawyer for the Bureau. Her husband stays home - perfectly ok but a profile more associated with the left than the right, and she thinks Ruby Ridge was just fine.

Let's wait and listen before we commit to her agenda. Remember Scott Ritter.

[Betty Jo]

Way to go !

[Betty Jo]

What difference does it make if she is "Liberal".

Who cares if her husband stays home?

She did her duty.

She is displaying bravery.

If she and others had been listened to at the time that they acted, thousands of murdered Americans would be alive!

More power to her!

[secretagent]

...she thinks Ruby Ridge was just fine.

Point us at a source, please.

[MissAmericanPie]

Good common sense advice, believe I'll take it.=o)

[nathanbedford]

http://freerepublic.com/focus/news/689305/posts

[secretagent]

Thanks. I guess you mean this paragraph:

The letter portrays the FBI as a place where agents are thwarted from doing their job by a "climate of fear." She writes: "Numerous high-ranking FBI officials who have made decisions or have taken actions which, in hindsight, turned out to be mistaken or just turned out badly (i.e. Ruby Ridge, Waco, etc.) have seen their careers plummet and end. This has in turn resulted in a climate of fear which has chilled aggressive FBI law enforcement action/decisions. In a large hierarchical bureaucracy such as the FBI, with the requirement for numerous supervisors' approvals/oversight, the premium on career enhancement, and interjecting a chilling factor brought on by recent extreme public congressional criticism/oversight, and I think you will see at least the makings of the most likely explanation."

I don't see this as outright support for the FBI's Ruby Ridge fiasco, but it does support your caution.

[nathanbedford]

The media sure ain't treating her like she is Linda Tripp and semator Welfare thinks she is just grand. Here is a post from another thread which suggests a parallel about how the left in and out of the media contrive to co-op conservative turf:

Please take a look at this article alleging that Clinton appointees in the DOJ are undermining Bush policies. Just yesterday the Washington Post reported that the "Joint Chiefs" were opposed to a war in Iraq. Note this article provides a possible explanation: These Clontonite think tanks purport to speak for the joint chiefs and are evidently accepted as a "source" to give the imprimator of the Joint Chiefs. But the purpose and effect is to undermine Bush. I am worried that we will see parallels in the coming wars over the FBI. http://freerepublic.com/focus/news/689293/posts

[Hunble]

The media sure ain't treating her like she is Linda Tripp and semator Welfare thinks she is just grand.

I am sure Senator Wellstone loved her, but for the wrong reasons, and it will end up hurting him once his record is fully exposed on this issue.

Personally, those of us in Minnesota should get together and present her with a special Freeper award for patiotic duty. Like Linda Tripp, she did the right thing, and should be applauded for the personal risks that she took.

[bloggerjohn]

They'll just wait a year until the public coverage dies down and get her. I knew a whistleblower. Happens all the time.

I was watching Meet the Press and something stinks already. Both members of the House Intel Committee downplayed the letter and kept talking about how it was "opinion." Their main whine seemed to be that it was leaked. How dare the American people actually find out what their government is doing.

And where in hell is Dave Frasca, the supervisor who had this thread and the Pheonix thread and who altered reports to help the terrorists? He seems to be immune and not even Congress can get hold of him. I thought govt. employees were required to report to Congress.

Wonder if he'll commit "suicide," leaving the trail cold.

[Betty Jo]

But, they'll find him in a DC Park!

[secretagent]

Thanks for that article about Clinton appointees in the DoD sabotaging Bush. I hadn't considered that angle.

I guess you don't agree, but it seems plausible to me that FBI Clinton appointees sabotaged Rowland due to political correctness about profiling Arabs.

[nathanbedford]

Yes I think it is quite possible - I just don't know.

There can be no question that we are in for real war in reshaping the FBI and, by extension, the Justice Department. I would think the left looks upon these venues not as functioning apparatus of good government but as happy hunting grounds for policy experiments.

When I was looking at the Bureau in the middle sixties as a possible career choice after law school, it was a conservative, staunchly catholic institution. I am sure it has opened up since then but it does not have the reputation today of being NOW's favorite agency. I believe the left has ambitions to radicalize the culture of the FBI and the DOJ and will use 911 toward that end.

I have earlier posted my belief that the intelligence failures leading to 911 were systemic and the result of Clinton. But even if that is so it does not automatically follow that it will be perceived as being so. Remember how the culture of the Army was trashed in public perception after Viet Nam? Now we have no urinals aboard warships (exaggeration) lest we offend weaker vessels with our members.

I suspect that if the oversight review is shifted from Congressional committee concerned with INTELLIGENCE to some blue ribbon commission, the administration will lose control of the reform process as the media drives the agenda. The public will be manipulated by the creation of heroes and villians. The first hero is being created now. Who is she? Will the first villian be some PC Puke or more likely a nice Irish catholic conservative who has played by the rules his whole career?

[Paul Ross]

I think the quote from her you on relying on fails to make your case. Deconstructing those sentances, it is just as likely that she thought that "Waco and Ruby Ridge" were "mistakes." Not just bad luck. You may be ultimately proven right about her politics, I too thought it strange about her house husband, but she does seem to be a dedicated and determined law enforcement type who was doing her duty. Meanwhile, the Clinton-appointee types are the ones actually ganging up against the implications of her memo...