NYTimes


Washington Post


What do we know about this prosecutor, Nora Dannehy? Is she registered with a political party? Has she made campaign contributions? When and by whom was she appointed (or hired)?

One of the points about this story that NPR's correspondent Ari Shapiro mentioned on PBS' the Newshour tonight is that had the Justice Department's Inspector General or Office of Professional Responsibility been able to compel testimony from the likes of Karl Rove and Harriet Miers, whatever they uncovered in the investigation would have been available for scrutiny by the public.

But now, if this special prosecutor is able to get any testimony, there's a strong possibility that it will be in a grand jury inquiry, in which case whatever is discovered will be secret and the public may never find out what happened, unless indictments are issued.

There is absolutely no reason to believe this special prosecutor appointment is anything but another circuitous maneuver in the political chess game the Bush gang has been dominating for eight years. I suspect the strategy is to deliberately establish a weak case then deliberately dump it, probably by failing to produce sufficient evidence to convict. Once the defendant(s) are found not guilty they cannot be charged with the same offense(s) again.

The history of the Bush Administration is a study in the methodologies of organized crime. In the same way as medical doctors can expertly commit murderer, lawyers can expertly circumvent the Law.

Yeah! Someone's paying attention!Nothing like a stockmarket crash to DISTRACT us.

U.S. DOJ

Nora R. Dannehy
Acting United States Attorney
District of Connecticut


On April 4, 2008, Nora R. Dannehy became Acting United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut upon the resignation of United States Attorney Kevin J. O’Connor, who currently serves as Associate Attorney General of the United States. Ms. Dannehy has been an Assistant United States Attorney in the Office for 17 years, most recently serving as Deputy United States Attorney.

The United States Attorney’s Office is charged with enforcing federal criminal laws in Connecticut, and with representing the federal government in civil litigation in the District. As Acting United States Attorney, Ms. Dannehy supervises a staff of approximately 60 Assistant United States Attorneys and approximately 50 staff members at offices in New Haven, Hartford and Bridgeport.

As an Assistant United State Attorney, Ms. Dannehy specialized in the prosecution of complex white collar and public corruption cases. She also served as the Professional Responsibility Officer for the District.

Prior to her service with the Department of Justice, Ms. Dannehy was an associate with the law firm of Day, Berry & Howard from 1988 to 1991. From 1986 to 1988, Ms. Dannehy served as a law clerk to Senior United States District Judge T. Emmet Clarie.

Ms. Dannehy graduated from Harvard Law School in 1986 and from Wellesley College in 1983.

Ms. Dannehy is the 49th United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, and the first woman to hold the position in the history of the Office, which was established in 1789.

"The inspector general report released today confirms our worst fears, and makes it clear that this was a scandal that went to the highest levels of the Department of the Justice, and that the role of the White House was in fact prominent," said Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

The investigators acknowledged, however, that they could not answer some critical questions because the White House refused to turn over internal documents and to allow interviews with some crucial figures. Investigators interviewed about 90 people in the last year and a half, but three senior administration officials who played a part in crucial phases of the dismissals - Karl Rove, the former political adviser to President Bush; Harriet Miers, the former White House counsel; and Monica Goodling, former Justice Department liaison to the White House - refused to be interviewed."

Full:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?.../MN9H138BML.DTL