THE GROWING SCANDAL AT THE DEPARTMENT OF INJUSTICE – AT 8:45 A.M. ET:  We speculated yesterday on how long it will be before Obama throws Attorney General Eric Holder under the bus.  Byron York, in the Washington Examiner, follows the story and gives us this report:

To Charles Grassley, a senior Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, the questions seem pretty simple. How many of the political appointees now in charge of terrorist detainee issues at the Obama Justice Department were, not too long ago, lawyers and activists working on behalf of those very detainees? Who are they? Have they removed themselves from cases involving their former clients?

Does the term "conflict of interest" come to mind?

So far, Grassley is having a hard time getting the information he wants. His problems started on Nov. 18, 2009, when Holder appeared before the Judiciary Committee and Grassley asked him to reveal which department lawyers had represented which detainees. Grassley is still waiting for an answer.

“He said something like, ‘I have to think about it,’ ” Grassley says. “He must still be thinking about it two and a half months later.”

Eric Holder's thoughts are very deep.  They take time.

Specifically, Grassley asked Holder about lawyers like principal Deputy Solicitor General Neal Katyal. Katyal is well-known for representing Salim Hamdan, a Yemeni who learned jihad from Osama bin Laden himself and served as bin Laden’s driver and bodyguard until November 2001, when he was captured in Afghanistan, ultimately ending up at Guantanamo...

...Grassley also asked about Jennifer Daskal, who joined the Justice Department after working on behalf of Guantanamo detainees at the organization Human Rights Watch. In the past, Daskal, who has no prosecutorial experience, has lamented the U.S. military policy of allowing Gitmo inmates only one book in their cells at a time, and has fretted that a detainee who is a “self-styled poet” was given a pen or pencil only for short periods. Now, Daskal reportedly works on detainee issues at the Justice Department.

This is fine reporting by Byron York.  Not exactly the kind of detail you find in the wine-and-Brie press.

In the meantime, other unanswered questions about the Justice Department’s terrorism policies are piling up on Holder’s desk. There are still questions about the Khalid Sheikh Mohammed decision, as well as the administration’s misbegotten effort to close Guantanamo. And a bipartisan group of senators wants to know who decided to cut short the interrogation of accused Detroit bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, granting him full American constitutional rights in the civilian justice system and killing the chance to gain potentially valuable intelligence about the al Qaeda group that sent Abdulmutallab to the United States on his deadly mission.

And...

It is impossible to overstate how seriously Republicans view these issues, and, despite their weaknesses as the minority party, they are determined to get answers out of Holder.

COMMENT:  Holder must go.  Answers aren't enough.  And the department needs a housecleaning.  All the wrong people have been brought in, seriously hampering our war effort. 

During World War II, President Roosevelt worked around the State Department, understanding how ineffectual it was.  But it's impossible to work around the Justice Department, for it is involved, by definition, in so many critical issues.  That's why only massive personnel changes will do the job.

February 2, 2010