News Logging

FOR MOST of the past eight years, the Justice Department has been roiled by controversy largely of its own making: Secret torture memos. Political litmus tests for nonpolitical posts. The questionable firing of U.S. attorneys.

BARACK OBAMA recently reiterated his campaign promise to order up a plan for the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq. But the Iraqi parliament has beaten him to it. Its ratification Thursday of a new bilateral military agreement with the United States not only establishes a timetable for the redeployment of American troops but delimits the missions they can undertake between now and the end of 2011. Mr. Obama has always said that his strategy was aimed at forcing Iraqi leaders to take responsibility for their country and its security. In adopting and ratifying the accord, the government and parliament have taken a major step toward that goal.

SOME LAWMAKERS and liberal interest groups have begun calling for criminal investigations of Bush administration personnel who crafted or implemented controversial anti-terrorism policies. As a result, President Bush may be contemplating preemptive pardons, including those involving CIA agents and others who carried out "extraordinary renditions" or "enhanced interrogations." There are compelling reasons for the president not to go down that road.

ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION does not seem to be the effective wedge issue in Virginia that some politicians once hoped it would be. One percent of likely voters rated immigration the most important issue in Virginia, according to a Washington Post poll taken before this year's election; the share was nine times larger last year. Rep. Virgil H. Goode Jr. (R), notoriously hostile to illegal immigrants, lost to Democrat Tom Perriello in an upset in Virginia's 5th District, which stretches from Danville to Charlottesville.

MANY THINGS about the savage terrorist attacks on hotels, restaurants and other "soft targets" in Mumbai are not fully known: the group or groups responsible; their links, if any, to Pakistan or other outside forces such as al-Qaeda. But morally, the relevant facts are perfectly clear. The assaults cost the lives of at least 145 people. The vast majority were civilians, Indian and foreign, including two visitors from Virginia and an American-born rabbi whose crime, to the terrorists, seems to have been helping Jews passing through Mumbai. Whatever its ostensible ideology, this was murder. And it is a stark reminder, if any were needed, that, even when governments are properly busy fending off a global financial crisis, they cannot neglect the threat of terrorism.

MAYOR Adrian M. Fenty (D) and Attorney General Peter J. Nickles have introduced an anti-gang initiative that is as intriguing as it is potentially problematic.

WHEN WE last wrote about Rep. Charles B. Rangel (D-N.Y.), chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, we urged that the House ethics committee be allowed to investigate before anyone drew final conclusions. But the latest revelation of Mr. Rangel's ethical tin ear is the most galling yet. While he remains innocent until proven otherwise, he should step aside as chairman while the ethics committee expands its inquiry.

IN SELECTING nominees for his Cabinet and a new White House staff, President-elect Barack Obama has so far placed an admirable emphasis on proven competence over personal loyalty or political purity. He's been pragmatic in choosing pragmatists but also bold in his willingness to enlist formidable personalities such as Rahm Emanuel for chief of staff and (reportedly) Hillary Clinton for secretary of state. Now, according to The Post and other media, Mr. Obama is close to settling on another unconventional but supremely practical pick: Robert M. Gates as defense secretary. We hereby join what undoubtedly will be the large chorus that hails this choice.

IT LOOKS like Lawrence Summers will be the economic ideas man inside the Obama White House. As a former Treasury secretary and Harvard president, he is well qualified for his new post, which carries the formal title of director of the National Economic Council. And we have a suggestion for his first special task: devising a long-term solution to the mess at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

MARYLAND'S RESCUE helicopter system is a national model, admired for its sterling safety record and quick response to accidents. But it may be abolished if some state lawmakers get their way. A September crash that killed four people in Prince George's County has brought intense scrutiny to Maryland's helicopter-based medical evacuation system, the only state-run air ambulance program in the country. Critics say the program would operate more safely cost-effectively if it were privatized. Supporters counter, and we agree, that medevac shortens the time it takes for patients to get treatment and shouldn't be scrapped.