EDITORIAL: Terrorist conflicts at Justice Department - Washington Times

EDITORIAL: Terrorist conflicts at Justice Department - Washington Times: "When considering how to handle captured terrorist suspects who represent an existential threat to America, the U.S. government owes the American people the fullest measure of reassurance that decisions are made by people without any conflicts of interest. In that light, the Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee are right to demand that the Justice Department fully disclose the backgrounds of the lawyers making the decisions in these cases.

We reported in this space on Nov. 22 that Associate Attorney General Thomas J. Perrelli, the third-ranking official in the Justice Department, had recused himself from at least 39 cases (13 of them active) involving terrorism-related detainees. We editorialized then that it would be worrisome if 'the department's prevailing ethos could be tilted strongly in the detainees' favor.' The Republican committee members, led by Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama, wrote a letter on Tuesday to Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. to demand further explanations of how potential conflicts are handled."