This is too perfect not to mention. Remember David Iglesias, the role model for Tom Cruise's character in the movie A Few Good Men and the US Attorney fired for not helping the Heather Wilson campaign by indicting Democrats. Well it seems that Justice Department official William Moschella was asked during a Congressional hearing why the Department had fired Iglesias. Pointing to his repeated absences from the office, Moschella answered by saying “Iglesias had delegated to his first assistant the overall running of the office. And, quite frankly, U.S. attorneys are hired to run the office.” Moschella was right because Iglesias did, in fact, leave the office for 45 days each year. Of course, as the DoJ knew full well Iglesias is a captain in the Navy Reserve and spent 45 days each year fulfilling his reserve duty. Paul Kiel at TPMMuckraker citing a Newsweek story, notes that
the Office of Special Counsel is investigating whether Iglesias was wrongfully terminated due to his reserve duty, Newsweek reports. It is against the law for employers to discriminate against members of the U.S. military.
Now, as Kyle Sampson admitted last week, there was no real performance reason to fire Iglesias. And in fact, it's indisputable at this point that Iglesias was actually fired because he didn't indict enough Democrats.* So the "absentee landlord" line was just a cover story -- but one that seems to have gotten them into some trouble now.
Apparently the guys at Main Justice running the hiring and firing of US Attorneys, Alberto Gonzales, Kyle Sampson, William Moschella, and Monica Goodling, are not competent to concoct a phony cover story that doesn't involve a violation of the law. I sure wouldn't ask any of them for legal advice. I doubt if other Loyal Bushies would.
