Morning Bell: A Historically Bad Decision » The Foundry

Morning Bell: A Historically Bad Decision » The Foundry

I met AG Edwin Meese, III, many years ago when I was a relatively young DEA Agent assigned to Chiang Mai, Thailand. We took him to the Thai-Burma border where he could view one of Khun Sa's camps on the Burmese side of the border from a Thai hilltop. He could see the barbed wire, concertina, trenches and weapons emplacements of the camp that was in place to protect the heroin trade headed by the now late Khun Sa, also known as Chang Chi-fu, during the 1980's. He could also see the dust and conditions which we had to endure as we conducted counter-narcotics operations in those mountains. As I remember he was very impressed with the efforts of our small office in Northern Thailand and also concerned that we had the proper support from the U.S. State Department and other U.S. agencies overseas.

During dinner at the Consul General's residence later that evening we had the opportunity to speak at length with the AG and I don't think that I'll ever forget the look on the U.S. Ambassador's face when the AG said, "Please excuse us, Bill. I'd like some time alone with my boys." ( Ambassador Bill Brown, where ever you are, rest easy. He only wanted to exchange "war stories" cop to cop"...and we loved him for that.) But I digress.

His comment on AG Holder's action to bring Khalid Sheikh Mohammad to New York City for trial is not long but it is, like his comment to the Ambassador those many years ago, pointed. I urge you to follow the link and read on.