The Mistake Department

    Over the years, I wrote ever more pointed letters to Congressmen dealing with the intelligence services: to John D. Rockefeller IV, then Vice Chairman, U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence; to Jane Harman, then Ranking Member, U.S. House of Representatives Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence; and to Nancy Pelosi, then Democratic Leader of the House of Representatives.  I also wrote to Tom Davis, now Ranking Republican on the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, U.S. House of Representatives, who was opposing legislation to protect national security whistle-blowers.    

    In those missives, I named the intelligence officers who ran the Visas for Terrorists Program and instructed the Congressmen on how to contact them.  But, no action was ever taken, no question was ever raised, giving rise to my view that they knew all about the matter.  And chose to ignore it.

    Additionally, in the hopes of getting some action, I published several articles on the Visas for Terrorists Program, "The Hand That Rules The Visa Machine Rocks The World" in a now-defunct magazine during the Winter of 2001, and "The Visas for Terrorists Program" in Global Outlook (Triple Issue No. 11, Spring/Summer 2006).  While the concept was picked up by Project Censored (25 Runners Up) 2002, and my interviews are still on the Internet, no uproar has yet been generated and no governmental action has resulted.

    Why not?  Any investigation would mean indictments.  It would mean jail sentences.  It would mean political accountability.  And, as we can see from the illegal and unconstitutional wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and, soon, Iran, no one, whether voter or politician or official, wants to deal with an uncomfortable and rather dangerous reality.  It would reflect on their judgment (or lack of it) and, if faced squarely, would cause them to believe that their lives have been a lie.

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