From liberal headquarters in Times Square, Maureen Dowd fawns over Rowley, calling her "the blunt Midwesterner" painting a "stunning and gruesome portrait of just how far gone the bureau is." Frank Rich calls her "a forthright American woman."

At least they seem to have gotten over their disdain for government whistle-blowers. Back when the world's most famous whistle-blower produced tapes proving the president of the United States had committed a slew of felonies, the left was more muted in its enthusiasm for female truth-tellers. Dowd called Linda Tripp a "witch" with a "boiling cauldron." Rich said Americans "despise" a "snitch."

Fortunately for Rowley, she is only a witness -- after the fact -- to the FBI bureaucracy's abject fear of racial profiling. One shudders to think what names liberals would be calling the unglamorous agent if she were a witness to actual crimes committed by their beloved Clinton.

Also fortunately for Rowley, liberals aren't listening to her.

It is striking that the media have refused to report on Rowley's specific indictment of the FBI, preferring to prattle on about her raw courage in the abstract. (I.e., she painted "a stunning and gruesome portrait of just how far gone the bureau is." OK -- but what did she say, exactly?) Bewildering news accounts leave the impression that Rowley's act of dauntless valor was to fly to Washington to inform the Senate that the FBI has really old computers.

In fact, the gravamen of Rowley's 13-page memo is essentially that FBI headquarters botched the Zacarias Moussaoui case by refusing to acknowledge that being a Muslim constitutes "probable cause" for a search warrant. She didn't put it that succinctly, but that is precisely her point.

Rowley condemns FBI brass for refusing to authorize a search warrant for Moussaoui based on the following information: He was a Muslim in flight school who had overstayed his visa and toward whom agents were suspicious because he refused to consent to a search of his computer.

First of all, refusing consent to a search is not considered suspicious, since it is your right to refuse. Any other rule would allow cops to bootstrap their way into a warrant. "Hi, Zacarias, may we search your computer? No? That's suspicious! Grounds for a warrant!" I don't think so.

So let's see, which of the remaining factors might constitute probable cause? In flight school? NO. Overstayed visa? NO. Is a Muslim? NOT ALLOWED.

As Rowley admits, "reasonable minds may differ as to whether probable cause existed" on the basis of Moussaoui being a Muslim. But there is more! She insists that once "French Intelligence Service confirmed his affiliations with radical fundamentalist Islamic groups," probable cause was "certainly established." Continued...