TIMOTHY LYNCH observes the tenth anniversary of Ruby Ridge.

What’s unfortunate is that despite demonstrated incompetence and probable criminality on the part of the federal law enforcement officials involved, not much has really been done to address the problems that incident revealed. This is a serious issue as homeland security is (allegedly) being ramped up. The FBI, ATF, and U.S. Marshal’s service aren’t ready for a war on terrorism, and there’s no sign that anyone is getting them ready. (And don’t even get me started on the INS). The free excerpt that Amazon provides is worth reading, for a start.

This — like the idiocy of airline security — would be a campaign issue for the Democrats. Except that they can’t bring themselves to criticize federal agencies.

UPDATE: In light of a couple of emails I got on this, it’s worth pointing out that this happened under the Bush Administration, not under the Clinton Administration. Waco was a Clinton foulup. The problems involved are bureaucratic ones, and transcend changes of administration. For more on those, see No More Wacos: What’s Wrong with Federal Law Enforcement and How to Fix It, by Dave Kopel and Paul Blackman.