The highest law official of the U.S.A. - the head of the U.S. Department Of Justice - was not only clearly aware of corruption in America's courts and the policing and enforcement sectors of our justice system, but he candidly admits that the vast majority of corrupt officials will never be caught.
Perhaps there is no power more easily and profitably abused by corrupted officials than the selective enforcement of our laws. Partners and affiliates in organized rings can easily decline to investigate or prosecute their brethren, and competitors and whistleblowers of this sort of organized crime ring are easily targeted for retribution under the
Color Of Law
.
Imagine the battlefield of the business world where competing interests compete for profits. Now imagine a corrupt neo-police force which protects one element in the field of competition while they cause harm to their opponents. This is how the Neo-Mafia operates. Do you see how quickly one loosely affiliated group of aggressive business suit wearing money chasers and their lawyers can gain advantage in nearly every business endeavor when their crimes are protected by corrupt affiliates in government?
"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." -- Edmund Burke
There is a relevant scene from Shakespeare, I believe it was in Henry VIII, when the military minds of one nation are plotting to destroy and overthrow a foreign power. "The first thing" in the plot for the destruction of the opposing country was to destroy their legal system: the resulting anarchy and lack of confidence in the nation would then enable and hasten the full destruction and overthrow of the country. In todays post 9/11 world, I am struck by the irony and incongruity of the extraordinary surveillance and alteration of the freedoms of ordinary citizens when our Justice Department and FBI remain blinded to the obvious and extreme corruption and organized crime operating in our courts - certainly a much more immediate and real threat to the stability of our nation.
Below is a transcript of John Ashcroft's blunt remarks to the international community, with highlighting emphasis added. You can see of copy of his remarks at the State Department.
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Attorney General John D. Ashcroft's Remarks at the Second Global Forum on Fighting Corruption
The Hague, Netherlands, May 31, 2001
Introduction
Your Majesty, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen:
On behalf of the United States, I would like to express my government's
great appreciation to Minister Korthais, his colleagues within the
Government of the Netherlands, and all the members of the Organizing
Committee, for all your hard work in putting together this Forum. You
undertook a Herculean task, and you have succeeded wonderfully.
Increased Interest in Global Forum
Two years ago, when the United States hosted the First Global
Forum in Washington, more than 50 ministers and several hundred other
representatives from over 90 countries participated. We considered that
to be a significant achievement, but Global Forum II has attracted more
than double the number of ministers and several times the number of
experts, with representatives from more than 120 countries.
New International Understanding and Candor about Corruption
These extraordinary numbers are directly attributed to the
excellent organizational work of our Dutch hosts. I believe, however,
that the presence here of so many high-ranking officials from around
the world also reflects the remarkable emergence in the last few years
of an international willingness to acknowledge the existence of serious
corruption within one's own country. There is a consensus that the time
is ripe for collective international action against a problem shared by
all nations of the world.
Corruption is no longer seen as an accepted cost of doing
business; it is no longer tolerated as an unavoidable aspect of
government. It is now widely recognized that the consequences of
corruption can be devastating: devastating to economies, devastating to
the poor, devastating to the legitimacy and stability of government and
devastating to the moral fabric of society.
What makes this new understanding all the more remarkable is
that it is accomplished by a new optimism that corruption, despite its
seriousness, is something that can be controlled, that it is indeed
possible to be successful in the fight against this age-old scourge.
And so we have gathered here in unprecedented numbers, to take
advantage of a rare window of opportunity, to share our experiences,
refine our understanding about effective practices, and search for new
and better ways to work together domestically and internationally to
address a problem of great importance to us all. Perhaps more important
than the practical insights exchanged, we signal by our presence here
the political will and commitment of our governments to engage
seriously in this fight, and to follow-up our words with meaningful
actions.
U.S. Commitment to International Fight Against Corruption
On behalf of the United States, I am pleased to have this
opportunity to reaffirm President Bush's statement to the opening
session of this Forum in which he made clear his strong support for
international efforts to combat corruption. The president, and all of
us in his Administration, are committed to the continued development
and refinement of international knowledge and expertise about the
nature and causes of corruption and how best to prevent and control it.
We are committed to working cooperatively with other countries around
the world, in both bilateral and multilateral ways, in our fight
against corruption. We look forward to continuing to advance these
efforts when we come together again at Global Forum III, which the
government of Korea has graciously offered to host in Seoul, Korea, in
2003.
I would like to talk this morning about three of the important
dimensions of the fight against corruption: the international dimension
of treaties and mutual evaluation; the national dimension of law
enforcement and preventive measures; and the critical moral dimension
of this complex issue.
International Dimension
Call to Implement Treaty Obligations and Effective Practices
I turn first to the international dimension. Thanks in part to
conferences like this, it is fair to say that the international
community already knows a great deal about how to control corruption.
There are many international instruments and documents readily
accessible right now in text and on the Internet, which set forth
numerous effective corruption fighting practices. I have in mind
instruments and documents such as: the OECD Convention; the
Inter-American Convention Against Corruption; the Council of Europe's
Criminal Law Convention; the First Global Forum's Guiding Principles;
the Anti-Corruption Principles developed by the Global Coalition for
Africa; as well as extensive materials that have been developed and
collected by the United Nations, the World Bank, and non-governmental
organizations such as Transparency International.
I do not mean to suggest that there is not still much to learn
about fighting corruption or that these instruments and documents
should be the last word on the subject. No country -- certainly not the
United States -- is free of corruption, and no country should lecture
others on how to eliminate it. We must continue serious international
diagnosis of the phenomenon of corruption and analysis of the
effectiveness of measures to combat it. And we look forward to working
within the United Nations to develop a meaningful global instrument
against corruption that efficiently adds value to the current array of
multilateral agreements and mechanisms addressing corruption.
But we do not have to wait for more studies and more
international agreements before implementing treaty obligations that
have already been assumed or taking preventive and enforcement measures
that are widely recognized to be effective. We also need to be careful
that the development of new agreements and statements of guiding
principles and best practices not divert critical resources and
political energy from the imperative of taking concrete action now
against corruption.
Importance of Mutual Evaluation Mechanisms
It is thus time for us all to take seriously the job of
implementation. Sustained self-generated action should be complemented
by mutual evaluation mechanisms that rigorously and objectively analyze
anti-corruption measures. Effective mutual evaluation entails not only
a review of the laws that are on the books, but also on-site visits by
expert evaluators and input from civil society so that the manner in
which anti-corruption measures function in practice can be fully
assessed.
The United States is pleased to participate in several mutual
evaluation mechanisms related to corruption, in particular those
conducted through the OECD, the Financial Action Task Force, the GRECO,
and the Stability Pact Anticorruption Initiative. We also support the
proposed follow-up mechanism to the Inter American Convention against
Corruption, which we expect to be formally adopted by the Parties to
the Convention next week at the OAS General Assembly meeting in San
Jose, Costa Rica. We believe that objective and rigorous mutual
evaluations have great potential to identify practices that are working
and those that are not, and to focus governments on the task of setting
anti-corruption priorities and taking practical steps to implement
them.
National Dimension
Importance of Integrity Among Law Enforcement and Judicial Officials
The second dimension of corruption I would like to discuss is
the national dimension. As my country's chief law enforcement officer,
I see daily the critical importance of working together to create and
maintain high standards of integrity within those institutions that are
responsible for law enforcement and justice. Indeed, that topic was the
original focus of the Global Forum process. Although the Global Forum
has now grown to address a broader array of corruption issues, I remain
convinced that there is no more important area in the fight against
corruption than the challenge for us within the law enforcement and
justice sectors to keep our own houses clean.
Corruption in the agencies charged with enforcing our laws not
only threatens communities by allowing dangerous criminals to roam
free, it also undermines the confidence of our citizens in law
enforcement and the criminal justice system. The same is true with
respect to judicial corruption.
We must all, in our own countries, lead the fight to ensure
integrity within our police and judicial systems. And we must come to
each other's assistance when corruption investigations lead to a need
for access to evidence, witnesses or fugitives that are abroad.
Importance of Preventive Measures
But in the national fight against corruption, law enforcement is
only one weapon. Corruption offenses, especially bribery violations,
are often extremely difficult to prove. In the real world of limited
resources, we know that we can only detect, investigate and prosecute a
small percentage of those officials who are corrupt.
Thus, corruption is truly an area where the proverbial ounce of
prevention is worth much more than a pound of cure. By focusing our
attention and resources on areas like government hiring and promotion,
employee compensation, codes of ethical conduct, internal controls, and
auditing procedures we can prevent much more corruption than we would
ever be able to prosecute.
Moral Dimension
I turn now to the third dimension of corruption: the moral
dimension. In the end, we must acknowledge morality is an essential
foundation of law. Governments are reflective of the societies they
serve. Even with strong law enforcement and preventive measures, there
will still be those tempted by corruption, and those willing to
corrupt. We must come to a recognition, personally and culturally, that
corruption is not just a violation of law, not just an economic
disadvantage, and not merely a political problem, but that it is
morally wrong.
One of the most interesting points from the presentations by
religious leaders at this Forum and at the First Global Forum in
Washington was that bribery is fundamentally incompatible with the
ethical values of every one of the world's great religions.
Personal Responsibility of Government Leaders
This means, as suggested by this Forum's symbol -- the mirror --
that we each have a very personal responsibility. A former United
States President -- Grover Cleveland -- had as his motto: "Public
office is a public trust." Many of us here are justice and security
officials, charged with combating the corruption of others. Through our
actions we enforce the law, but through our conduct and the conduct of
those who work with us, we set a moral example for society. If our own
integrity is questioned, we lose the moral authority to lead the fight
against corruption. To be sustainable over time, the political will
necessary to succeed against corruption requires a moral foundation.
Economic and political interests are shifting. The morality of fighting
corruption is a constant. It is common ground that all can and should
share.
I believe it is essential that those of us who are privileged
to hold high positions in government use our leadership positions not
only to shape government policies but also to represent the highest
values of our societies. In so doing, we must work with the leaders of
civil society, including religious institutions. And we must always
bear in mind the ten most important import two-letter words in the
English language: "If it is to be, it is up to me." We must leave this
Forum determined to rededicate ourselves as public servants to uphold
our public trust and to protect our nations and people against the
evils of corruption. We should do this knowing that the process is long
and difficult, but in the solemn confidence that with our united
effort, we will succeed.
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