It’s always fun to learn that what goes around comes around.  This time, former Assistant Attorney General Jim Robinson, the top criminal prosecutor in the Clinton Department of Justice, learned that karma sucks.

From the New York Lawyer :

WASHINGTON — The Justice Department’s former top criminal prosecutor says the government’s terror watch list likely has caused thousands of innocent Americans to be questioned, searched or otherwise hassled. 

Former Assistant Attorney General Jim Robinson would know: he’s one of them.

Robinson joined another mistaken-identity American and the American Civil Liberties Union on Monday to urge fixing the list that’s supposed to identify suspected terrorists.

Isn’t it amazing how they only get religion after they leave DOJ?  Of course, with a name like Jim Robinson, it was only a matter of time before he was confused with some potential terrorist. 

While Robinson’s problems with the terrorist list didn’t start until long after he left Justice, thus putting him in the position of being personally affected by governmental over-reaching and abuse of basic civil rights, it’s not like similar challenges weren’t around in the 90s and routinely laughed away.  But now that it’s happening to Robinson, he’s become a voice of reform.

“It’s a pain in the neck, and significantly interferes with my travel arrangements,” said Robinson, the head of the Justice Department’s criminal division during the Clinton administration. He believes his name matches that of someone who was put on the list in early 2005, and is routinely delayed while flying — despite having his own government top-secret security clearances renewed last year.

Now Jim Robinson didn’t rise to the head of criminal prosecutions in Washington by being a dope.  He’s a smart guy.  He must have had some inkling that the sort of stuff they were doing in the name of law enforcement was “a pain in the neck” to innocent Americans back when he had his finger on the trigger. 

The difference, of course, was that when he was a government official making decisions about how much of a burden to place on the civil rights of Americans, he was more than happy to sacrifice our civil rights on his alter of law enforcement.  My, how the worm turns when even former DOJ bigwigs learn what life is like for real people.

“I suppose if I were convinced that America is a safer place because I get hassled at the airport, I might put up with it,” Robinson said. “But I doubt it.”

What?  No talking points to justify how it may not be perfect, but?

The government calls its watch list one of the most effective tools in its fight against terrorism. It was created after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks to consolidate 12 existing lists and make sure no terrorists slipped through the cracks — whether when entering the country or if otherwise stopped for questioning. Last year, congressional investigators found “general agreement that the watch list has helped to combat terrorism.”

Chad Kolton, a spokesman for the FBI’s Terrorist Screening Center that maintains the list, said the government is working to fix the gaps.

“We strive to have the watch list contain all appropriately suspected terrorists who represent a threat to the U.S., but only appropriately suspected terrorists,” Kolton said.

As long as our government is striving, aren’t you satisfied, Jim?  Or perhaps you’re beginning to realize how empty promises and vague press statements really don’t match up well with being the wrongfully named guy on a government list.

And for all our good friends in the Bush administration’s DOJ, your turn is coming very soon.  And if you think Jim Robinson got some karmic payback, I have two words for you:  water boarding.