Hunting For the Truth

The war on Bill Clinton and the war on everything else

Robert A. George | June 22, 2004

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Consider that Ken Starr was appointed to examine a land deal involving Bill Clinton before he became president (in itself something of a deviation from the original use of the independent counsel statute). Over the course of his multi-year task, he then was asked to examine the death of Vince Foster, the aforementioned Filegate/Travelgate episodes and then, finally, Monica Lewinsky. Even ignoring all the charges of conflict-of-interest that partisans raise about Starr and the three-judge panel that selected him, the "moving target" aspect of the investigation is disturbing.

But if a "moving target" judicial investigation is problematic, what about a "moving target" war?

After 9/11, Osama bin Laden was "Wanted: Dead or Alive." As the Iraq War developed, Saddam Hussein became the Ace of Spades in the terror card deck. Now, Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi has become the new face of evil. Even so, according to the Bush administration, the war does not end with bin Laden's capture or death. It continues until…until…until when, exactly?

Republicans on the Judiciary Committee rushed to defend Ashcroft's assertion that he didn't have to disclose his private "advice" to the president. But the major questions remained unasked, not to mention unanswered: Can a president's extra-constitutional wartime powers continue ad infinitum? Does the executive not have to answer questions about these powers as long as the country remains "at war"? For that matter, how long does an unofficially declared war against a tactic (terror)—as opposed to a defined nation or foe—continue?

It took Kenneth Starr to be appointed before the Democrats understood exactly how devastating the unlimited powers of an independent counsel could be.

What will it take for Republicans to consider the ramifications of the unlimited wartime powers that the Justice Department and the current attorney general are intimating? President John Kerry? President Hillary Rodham Clinton?

For those questions alone, The Hunting of the President makes for interesting viewing.