The Prosecutor Never Rests (Patrick Fitzgerald)

[TacticalPeek]

The Prosecutor Never Rests
Whether Probing a Leak or Trying Terrorists, Patrick Fitzgerald Is Relentless

By Peter Slevin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, February 2, 2005; Page C01

CHICAGO

If Osama bin Laden ever stands trial, there's a prosecutor in Chicago waiting to face him down. As a driven young lawyer in the 1990s, Patrick J. Fitzgerald built the first criminal indictment against the man who would become the world's most hunted terrorist. Both men have moved on, you might say, but Fitzgerald still imagines that fantasy date before a judge.

"If you're a prosecutor, you'd be insane if you didn't want to go do that," Fitzgerald says in the well-appointed conference room of the U.S. attorney's office here. "If there was a courtroom and they said someone has to stand up and try him, would I hesitate to volunteer? No. I'm not saying I'd be the best person to try him at that point, but I'd be lying if I told you I wouldn't be interested."

A solidly built former rugby player who enjoyed getting muddy and bloody well into his twenties, Fitzgerald is nothing but confident in his own skin. Just as he does not fear bin Laden, he seems to fret little that he is now tangling simultaneously with the Bush White House and the New York Times, two of the nation's most powerful and privileged institutions.

...

In a recent court hearing, Fitzgerald told U.S. District Judge Robert W. Sweet that he is sensitive to First Amendment concerns. He said the reporters are not his targets: "We want to find out who leaked national security information."

more
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A55560-2005Feb1.html

[Me.]

1. What I Liked Reading

is that a decision on the reporters' appeal should show up in the next couple of days. I mean, honestly, with all consideration to due diligence, this has been a long time coming.

[Maat]

2. I believe that he is charge of investigating the Valerie Plame leak.

n/t

[KoKo]

26. Yes! and our Chicago DU'ers assured us he was a "pit bull." However

that investigation conclusion is almost 6 months overdue...and there's nothing. So, I've concluded "THEY" found a way to get to "Bull Dog Fitz" and he's nothing more than a poodle now. :shrug:

[Sandpiper]

3. Osama bin Laden will never be captured or prosecuted

He's too useful as a bogey man for Bush's foreign policy goals.

[thebigidea]

4. nor does he seem to do much more than give Judith Miller martyr-y press

oh, but I heard from this guy who heard from another guy who heard from a guy who is supposedly some kind of expert in something or another that grand jury indictments are coming several months ago!

I swear! He's never been wrong before, this friend of my friend's friend.

[merh]

5. So glad to hear about this investigation. He has been at it a long

time and I can only imagine the interference he has had to deal with.

Thank you Mr. Fitzgerald for you all of your efforts.

Yes, this is the Plame investigation!

[autorank]

6. This is a good sign. They're bringing him front and center. It's a sign

and a signal to * and company that the hammer is about to drop. I'm not saying Fitzgerald is a stooge, just that the CM (corporate media) is starting to rep for those elements of the financial power structure who are losing out because of the rapacious * policies. There may also be some of influence who realize * is about to toast the whole planet through an eco catastrophe.

So my theory goes, you put the "Untouchable" out front again about the time he's going to deliver the goods and make him a hero. Then when the inditements come out, he's got media credibility. This was a laudatory PR piece for a guy who seems fairly interesting.

Thus, now that * is a danger to the specific well being of the big boys, it's time to support operation impeachment.

:tinfoilhat: you say. Well maybe but there is some real Watergate potential here. Use Fitzgerald to get rid of Cheney and some neocons then "break" some major scandal about betrayal of the troops in Iraq. Bye bye Bush!

[merh]

7. I like your thinking.

Hopefully the hammer will come down on the evil ones -- this could be the case that will do it.

:tinfoilhat:

[autorank]

8. A fellow traveler...why can't Conspiracy Planet come up with this stuff.

:hi:

[Nothing Without Hope]

9. The case that would bring them down is the 9/11 scandal exposed. n/t

[merh]

18. That won't be exposed until he exposed in this, then the

dominos will topple all at once. (imho)

[Nothing Without Hope]

23. There sure are a lot of dominoes. Whatever starts them tipping...

...has my heartfelt support. Every day that these global-scale criminals are in power makes it that much harder to repair the damage they have done, and some -- the people killed and maimed, the trust destroyed, the planet devastated -- are irreparable.

I'm all for Fitzgerald's success, I just don't think a positive finding in this case will have the visceral impact that 9/11 evidence would. But I'll surely take what we can get!

I can't see the blivet** and his corrupt cronies sitting quietly by while Fitzgerald completes a devastating case -- if he has one, I hope he and his family are kept safe. Murder and blackmail are their stock in trade, and they won't hesitate if they feel threatened.

[Solon]

10. I think the biggest thing is that there is no way...

in hell Bush and company will allow Bin Laden a trial. The problem is that he probably has enough evidence alone to bring most of the people of the administration up on treason charges, as well as past neo-cons ala Kissinger. A public trial will bring all of this to light, and no amount of spinning will make it go away, Bush would have been impeached, removed from office, and thrown in an orange jumpsuit if it happened. He'll either be dead, or more likely, put in a secret camp of the Bushes where he will never see the light of day again.

[Kagemusha]

11. I can't help but think that's silly.

I can understand saying Saddam knows where bodies are buried on certain things. With Osama, well. Even if there was some giant conspiracy why would anyone bring Osama personally into it. Really.

[Solon]

14. Who knows....

Bin Laden was pretty close to the Taliban regime, the same regime that visited Bush when he was governor of Texas. Also there was the "Carpet of Gold, or a Carpet of Bombs" comment by our government in August of 2001. Also, who knows how much our "Company Asset" Osama was paid in the 80's to beat back communism. There could be a lot of dirty laundry in the Bush White House, the problem is the lack of incontrivertable proof, its mostly hearsay and such, with a few documents, who knows what Bin Laden has in his bag.

[TacticalPeek]

12. Morning Kick,

:kick:


Tick, tick, tick . . .


I know, I know.


Tick, tick, tick . . .

[sendero]

13. Color me skeptical..

.... I've been hearing about how this bulldog prosecutor is going to get to the bottom of this for what, 6 months?

Nothing is going to happen. That is my prediction. Discovery and investigation in a case like this should take weeks, not months.

Every day that passes without an indictment gives the bad guys time to fine-tune their lies and alibis. The info trail is long cold. This is yet another case where the administration is going to get away with it. Scot free.

[davsand]

15. I doubt anybody said Fitz is speedy.

He is somebody that puts it all together, however.

Once he "gets" you, you stay "got."

I followed his work here in Illinois on the George Ryan case, and I'll bet you money he's getting closer on that Plame leak. Fitz is one prosecutor that you do NOT want on your backside if you did anything wrong.

Let me ask, did anybody think that the White House would give info up to the investigator willingly? Did anybody expect the media to hand over sources at that level? Hell, this crew won't tell anybody the recipe for a cheese sandwich, let alone anything of interest!

Keep the faith!


Laura

[sendero]

16. I hope you are right...

... I'd love nothing better than to see indictments and convictions.

It just seems that so many of these "scandals" have come and gone with no result, that I'm afraid to get my hopes up :)

[Norquist Nemesis]

20. Absolutely, Laura!!!

Very well said! :clap:

I'm here in IL as well. So many across the country haven't experienced Fitzgerald and how thorough he is like we have. The fact that we haven't heard much of anything is really a good sign and means EVERYTHING. This is how he works. He has an excellent staff supporting him and he does not tolerate ANY leaks.

It was months and months before much was known about putting our very own Governor George Ryan under indictment. About a week or two (at most) before the indictment was official, the press began a slow but steady buzz that got a little louder each day. Then BOOM!

Unfortunately, Ryan's lawyers have managed to convince the judge to delay the trial until fall which, coincidentally (hah!), are after the local elections. The trial thing really had IL GOP shaking in their boots that reminding IL voters how corrupt Ryan is also connects them all. They didn't want that front and center going into elections in March.

However, the postponement date (October?), could very well affect the national 2006 elections as candidates start declaring.

[Me.]

25. Glad To Hear It

After the bashing he has taken in the press in the last 6 months it's nice to hear he's a guy who keeps them once he's got them. And I do think the theory of shifting sands is right, after so much bad press it is significant that all of a sudden we hear something positive. I've always thought Plame was the first domino in the line, and I've been counting on him to be the one who knocks it down.

[KoKo]

27. Are you sure he hasn't been bought off...

The BFEE is all poweful. If he has family, children..then they definitely would go at him.

And...given that the Chimp is in for another four years what chance in hell does anyone have to get something against him that the Main Stream Media will report??

I want to believe you...but this investigation is dragging and Novak is feeling chipper and others have gone down in the meantime. :shrug:

[merh]

19. Guess you have never been involved in this type of case.

It doesn't take weeks, it takes months and years, especially when witnesses hide behind the 1st Amendment.

[sendero]

21. I still believe...

...that the longer it goes on, the less likely there will be a satisfactory result.

Given enough time, strings will be pulled, stories manufactured and coordinated, and evidence destroyed.

I'll be happy to be wrong.

[merh]

22. That's probably already occurred, that is why it is taking so long

:freak: They will stop at nothing to win! :tinfoilhat:

[Rose Siding]

24. His style sure differs from Starr

Which could mean he's ethical and prevents leaks or could also mean that he's sold out. No way to really tell, yet but flattering articles about him personally aren't encouraging, imo. Maybe he's become more ambitious.

[leveymg]

17. There Have Been Two Threads Through Every Major US Terrorism Trial: Fitz-

gerald and the government's use of agents provocateurs and double-agents in the commission of the crimes.

Fitzgerald was a key part of the prosecution of the '93 WTC bombing, in which an FBI informant was supposed to have mixed the bomb with inert materials. Somehow, that went terribly wrong, and the bomb detonated in the parking garage, destroying the lower levels of the tower.

He also lead the prosecution of the '98 East Africa Embassy bombings when he was in Mary Jo White's Office. In that case, there were at least two US informants operating inside that Al Qaeda-linked conspiracy. Again, the bombs went off despite advance warning to the CIA and FBI of preparations for that attack. Hundreds died.

As the WashPost article alludes, Fitzgerald was at the center of the investigation of major al Quada and Hezbollah financiers, and the results of that probe was less than a striking success. These charitable groups and businesses had been the focus of ongoing counterterrorism surveillance for years before 9/11, and the gov't had sources inside them and abroad. Bin Laden's money tree, and its links to the Muslim Brotherhood, had been thoroughly "mapped out" by 2001. Yet, there have been few prosecutions of the money men since, and the US has seized only a small fraction of some $150 million in total terrorist assets frozen worldwide.

I am NOT accusing Mr. Fitzgerald of taking part in a conspiracy or a cover-up in the legal sense. All of the information above came out largely as a result of investigations that he had a major part in leading. What I am raising questions about is how the facts have been spun to mislead the public into believing that these terrorist attacks came as a complete surprise to the US Government. They did not, neither in 1993 nor in 1998. Nor, as we have learned, was the fact of an imminent large scale terrorist attack unknown to high officials in the Bush Administration on 9/11/01.

If he were really a stand up guy, Mr. Fitzgerald would be making this point, himself, loud and clear. By not pressing publicly for greater accountability, he has made himself complicit to a larger injustice. Let's hope that at a critical point, Patrick Fitzgerald stands up and starts talking directly to the camera.

The US justice and political systems have failed to bring the reckless and the incompetent in high office to account for terrorist attacks that should have been prevented. He should take a lead role in correcting that by prosecuting those officials responsible for more than 3,000 cases of negligent homicide, perjury and obstruction of justice.