Department of Justice Inspector General Glenn Fine released a nearly 200-page report June 2 that found a "pattern of physical and verbal abuse" against many of the 762 mostly Middle Eastern foreigners detained after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. According to the report, detainees remained in custody for an average of 80 days without being informed of the charges they faced while encountering belligerent threats such as "you're going to die here." Remember the days when Americans feared the US had lost its competitive edge? Well, this ought to show any doubters that we can still abuse prisoners and our own Constitution with the best of them.The Fine report went on to say that the FBI's New York field office made "little attempt to distinguish" between foreigners who were the focus of the terrorism investigation and those who had no connection to terrorism.

Attorney General John Ashcroft didn't comment directly on the report, but instead professed that the federal government was making "steady progress" in the war against terrorism. Ashcroft said the existing Patriot Act has led to more than 3,000 "foot soldiers of terror" being stopped, but he also told the House Judiciary Committee that despite being "built on a solid foundation," the law "has several weaknesses which terrorists could exploit."

In an odd bit of timing considering the critical tone of his own department's report, Ashcroft spent the week lobbying for even more unrestricted powers. Perhaps this is his remedy for DOJ abuses -- simply make the abuses legal.

Ashcroft also lobbied for a death penalty provision that would allow for executions when a terrorist caused "massive loss of life" by attacking a military base, nuclear plant or energy plant. Given that terrorists are most often suicide bombers, it would seem that a surviving suicide bomber would be receiving more of a jihad mulligan from Ashcroft than a viable deterrent.

In the future, one man is the law.

Another terrorist bomber, Eric Rudolph was captured by a 21-year old rookie police officer fresh out of Community College in Murphy, NC. Jeff Postell thought he had nabbed a prowler behind a supermarket until a fellow officer recognized Rudolph. The suspected Olympic Park bomber then revealed his identity, allegedly with a sigh of relief.

According to TV station WRAL, Postell has his eye on becoming an FBI agent. His likely first assignment? Working out of the Baghdad field office where he'll be searching for Weapons of Mass Destruction and the real killer of Nicole Brown Simpson. The latter, of course, is in addition to O.J.'s ongoing relentless investigation of his former wife's murder.