February 28, 2007

Jesselyn Radack

Back in the ancient history of the abuses visited upon our Constitution and our system of justice by the Bush Administration was the case of John Walker Lindh.

Whatever one thinks of the confused young man for associating with the Taliban, we know through the courageous whistle blowing of Jesselyn Radack that Lindh was perhaps the first American victim of the Bush Administration’s disregard for the law and basic standards of decency.

Radack was a career Department of Justice attorney who lost her job because she dared to reveal that Lindh had been interrogated with a "heavy hand," despite the fact that his rights were being violated.

You see, Radack was in the ethics division of the Department of Justice and personally discovered that her advice on ethical guidelines for handling Lindh were both disregarded and erased from the DOJ files.

BuzzFlash interviewed Radack a short time ago about her self-published book "The Canary in the Coalmine: Blowing the Whistle in the case of 'American Taliban' John Walker Lindh."

We realized that we were speaking to an authentic American heroine, one of the rare citizens who realizes that the Constitution is more important than her personal career.

Radack suffered professionally for exposing the big lie of the Justice Department on the Lindh case. The Bush Administration did a mini-Joe Wilson/Valerie Plame smear and intimidation job on her.

But she survived and is still fighting for the rule of law.

Jesselyn Radack more than merits being honored with this week's BuzzFlash Wings of Justice Award. We desperately need more like her.

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Nominated by: BuzzFlash.com

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