[free-sklyarov] Robert Mueller

Dan Martinez dfm at area.com
Tue Jul 24 11:19:20 PDT 2001


Bob La Quey wrote:

> Mark, normally I would be in complete agreement with you. Mueller
> seems an obvious next point of attack. I brought the same thing up
> on the us.slash.net#sklyarov IRC back when the list was dead. Then I
> started to do a little background research.
> 
> There is a sudden complication. Mueller has just been diagnosed with
> prostrate cancer. This makes him a very sympathetic character for
> old men (like senators and congressmen). I know, I am 60, and have a
> brother 77 dieing from prostrate cancer. I assume you are much
> younger so such a calculation would not be part of your routines,
> but believe me it could well be part of a 50-70 year old senators.
> Mueller is prognosticated to survive the cancer treatment, so this
> makes him a hero. Plus he may get a delay in having his confirmation
> hearings, which could throw off the timing.

Your point is well taken, and my condolences on your brother's
illness. However, I think it will be possible to bring effective
pressure to bear upon Mueller without making him a martyr. He's being
spun, after all, as "the guy who will clean up the FBI". We can play
to that, and make it politically expedient for Mueller to do the right
thing.

If the public were to percieve Sklyarov's arrest as yet another
instance of cowboy law enforcement by the "bad old FBI" -- a
perception the FBI's own handling of the case to date does nothing to
counter -- then Mueller would have the perfect opportunity to play
White Knight, riding in to correct the excesses of his predecessors.

Convenient for him and convenient for us. Especially since Sklyarov
differs from the usual victims of excess FBI zeal by virtue of not
being a white supremacist, child pornographer, or conspiracy theorist,
making it politically palatable to let him go as a gesture of
contrition by the New & Improved FBI.

I think the goal would be to get an elected representative to ask
probing questions about the Sklyarov case at Mueller's confirmation
hearing. I'm not sure if there's a better way to do this than mail to
one's own representatives.

With luck, however, it won't come to that:

> The other place for us to look is the DOJ, which really holds the
> Dmitry cards now.

Agreed. In an ideal world, this will all be resolved long before
Congress has a chance to consider Mueller's appointment. So: how,
when, and where do we bring pressure to bear on the DOJ?

Dan




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