Steven Hatfill has gone to war with the FBI. I'm listening to his latest press conference right now. Good for him. I hope he wins, and I hope that the blogosphere supports him in his fight.

I think that the FBI has long outlived its usefulness as a government agency. The culture is so screwed up, and its population of prima donnas and people contemptuous of the rights of ordinary citizens so entrenched, that it's hopeless to think that it can be reformed.

This case was another Waco in kind (though with much less horrendous consequences). It was grandstanding for the purpose of burnishing the agency's image, rather than performing legitimate law enforcement. Whoever has been leaking these details to the press should be fired immediately. And at this point, I think that includes the Attorney General himself.

If Mr. Bush wants to show seriousness in going after terrorists, he will do a thorough housecleaning. He should do it before the election, and the Congressional Republicans should back it wholeheartedly. It would include tumbrels for, at a minimum, the following: Ashcroft, Tenet, Mueller, and Mineta.

He should also take it as an opportunity to reopen some festering national wounds from the nineties, expose them to sunshine, and finally cauterize and heal them, because it is the same incompetence and coverup mentality that has recently persecuted Mr. Hatfill, that resulted in them as well. Perhaps even by many of the same people. We have to ask, at this point, why the FBI should have any credibility on anything.

A short list of issues to be reopened would be, again at a minimum, Waco itself, the investigation into TWA 800, what really happened to Vincent Foster, and who helped Tim McVeigh.

But Bush won't do it. Or if he does, it will be a much different George W. Bush than the one that we've seen in the first year and half of his administration.

[Update at 1:04 PM PDT]

Here's a link to the MSNBC story on the filing of the complaint against Ashcroft.

Alas, I can feel my support for Bush ebbing daily. Let's just take the most obvious of your suggested firings: Mineta. What on earth does this man have going for him? How many minutes^H^H^H^H^H seconds would any reasonable person have to deliberate before deciding Mineta should be well-deservedly tossed overboard?

Or--taking a tip from the conspiracy-mongers--should we start wondering what deep dark secret Mineta knows that makes him untouchable? Gack!

Mineta's strength, in my opinion, is purely demographic. I really hate to say that, since one would hope Dubya wouldn't go in for that kind of "looks like America" crap.

My guess is that while Bush might not have hired Mineta purely on the basis of his race and party affiliation, they may be two factors that are helping keep Mineta employed. Couldn't be his job performance.

The FBI is immune to reform

They tried to reform the FBI in the 1970's after FBI black bag jobs and COINTELPRO were exposed and what did it get us? Ruby Ridge and Waco! Whistleblowers like Whitehurst are fired and criminal document shredders like Potts are promoted!

The FBI is a poisoned organization beyond reform and must be abolished. Any legitimate duties it performs must be reassigned to other agencies. If a new organization is formed to replace the FBI, no personell who ever worked for the FBI should be hired.

If we don't try to abolish the FBI, their backshooting Lon Horiuchi's and Dick Rogers tankboys will run amuk again.

Hey Rand, as much as I like FoxNews, I would really love them to start raising these issues, as opposed to simply carrying water for us otherwise underrepresented Bush Republicans. Alas, the other networks are probably beyond hope-too many entrenched sacred cows need to be gored.
Keep up great work.