"Mr. Mukasey acted on Monday after the Justice Department released a harshly critical report by the inspector general that confirmed what an incompetent, unethical and very possibly corrupt attorney general Mr. Gonzales was. Given that history, and Mr. Mukasey's failure to clean up his own house, the burden will be on the newly appointed prosecutor to investigate the matter fairly and thoroughly.

Congress's inquiry into the firing of nine United States attorneys has already uncovered improper and perhaps illegal activity at the highest levels of the Justice Department. There is considerable evidence that the prosecutors were fired because they insisted on bringing cases harmful to Republicans' electoral chances, or refused to bring cases harmful to Democrats.

Monica Goodling, a top aide to Mr. Gonzales, resigned after having taken politics into account in hiring lawyers for nonpolitical positions. Mr. Gonzales resigned after questions were raised about his role in the firings and about the truth of his testimony to Congress.

Now, a 392-page joint report from the department's inspector general and its office of professional responsibility "found significant evidence that political partisan considerations were an important factor in the removal of several of the U.S. attorneys."

It concluded, in particular, that David Iglesias, the United States attorney for New Mexico, was removed because of complaints from influential Republicans about his handling of voter fraud and public corruption cases. He was removed, the report said, "without any inquiry into his handling of the cases."

The report also confirmed that the Bush administration has been stonewalling. It found that Mr. Gonzales, his chief of staff, Kyle Sampson, and his deputy, Paul McNulty, failed "to provide accurate and truthful statements about the removals and their role in the process." It also noted that important witnesses, including Karl Rove and Harriet Miers, the former White House counsel, refused to be interviewed. And it said that the White House refused to provide certain documents.

Mr. Mukasey has named Nora Dannehy, the acting United States attorney in Connecticut, to lead the investigation. Internal investigations always invite skepticism. That is particularly true when a department's officials have actively obstructed an initial inquiry.

For Ms. Dannehy's investigation to have any credibility, she must obtain sworn testimony from Mr. Rove, Ms. Miers and other witnesses who have defied Congressional subpoenas. She also needs to get the documents that the White House has refused to hand over to Congress and the inspector general"....(NYT)