SENATOR SMEAR

    Again trying to even political scores, liberal Carl Levin launched a vicious witch hunt against Douglas Feith—the under secretary of Defense for Policy—a brave man who challenged CIA presumptions and tried to develop sound intelligence about terrorist threats to the United States. According the Wall Street Journal, Senator Levin’s smears against Mr. Feith “will have a chilling effect on anyone who wants to question” military intelligence in the future. “This is dangerous,” the Journal continues, “because if recent experience has taught us anything it is that we need far more such questioning.” The Journal reminds us that Senator Levin “may enjoy scoring partisan points,” but his “nasty obsession with Mr. Feith will have the effect of endorsing more group-think as the last, best word in intelligence—and will lead to more Iraqs and more 9/11s.”

But Levin’s smear tactics didn’t stop there. Pentagon General Counsel William Haynes was also on the hit list, all because Mr. Haynes supported enhanced interrogation techniques to obtain vital information from terrorists seeking to kill us. Levin had suggested that Mr. Haynes delighted in cruel and inhuman punishment.