Debra Burlingame: Let Me Tell You a Thing or Two

Debra Burlingame in a 2005 photo by the NYT.

I had never heard of Debra Burlingame but she had a brilliant piece in the Wall Street Journal about Bill Clinton’s pardon of 16 convicted FALN terrorists. You can find the story on Digg under the title “The Clintons' Terror Pardons”, on the date February 13, 2008. It’s worth reading, not because of any anti-Hillary sentiment, but because it highlights a period and an event which was systematically suppressed and hidden from public view.

Debra Burlingame is my "Woman of the Day" but who gives a ___t? Someone ought to introduce her to Chris Matthews. This woman plays "hardball" whereas Matthews doesn't seem to know what the word means.

There was nothing proved illegal about the Clinton FALN pardons but the investigation launched by the House never went anywhere because:

1) Bill Clinton claimed executive privilege.

2) The Clinton DOJ forbade the testimony of FBI agents and the use of its files on the FALN, and the 16 imprisoned convicts who were released.

I’d heard a little about this and must say I was one of the bamboozled ones. This story deserves to be read just because it’s a good story, provides a lot of background, is wonderfully rational. Debra Burlingame is a former attorney. She served on a board for the WTC memorial. Her brother was killed on the plane which crashed into the Pentagon on 9-11.

I looked around on the internet and found this Debra Burlingame quote, which in itself is deserving of note:

“To me, they're treating 9/11 like a 3,000-person car crash.”