Former Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft, author of “Never Again: Securing America and Restoring Justice,” today spent time with bloggers talking about his new book and the War on Terror.

Mary Katharine Ham of Townhall.com has an excellent recap of the conversation with bloggers John Hawkins of Right Wing News, Paul Mirengoff of Power Line and Ace of Ace of Spades HQ and me.

While we kept the discussion mostly focused on the War on Terror -- and particularly Ashcroft’s role in it as attorney general -- I shifted gears halfway through to ask about his handling of the Valerie Plame affair. It was Ashcroft who, in December 2003, appointed special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald to lead the investigation. At the time, Ashcroft chose to recuse himself.

Although he didn’t go into great detail, Ashcroft stood by his decision. He also used the occasion to defend the Justice Department’s involvement.

I felt it was necessary to investigate it. We did not go outside the Justice Department. We did not call in a special prosecutor. We used Justice Department individuals who had experience in this.

I have not rejoiced in what’s happened, but the truth of the matter is, I think they proceeded in accordance with the rules and enforcing matters. My own sense is we need to signal that when individuals involved in government, if they do indeed violate the law, they have to answer for it.

Now, we’ll find out. I don’t want to go any further than that because we still have things open there.

I don’t like the idea of special prosecutors outside the Justice Department setting up special bureaucracies -- they operate with independent budgets and they go way out of line. I think if you’ve got 100,000-plus people in the Justice Department, if you can’t find the person with independence and integrity to run the operation, you should think very carefully about doing something else.