Did the Justice Dept. systematically turn its back on the sex trafficking of women and girls and the abuse of prostitutes by their pimps? That’s what John R. Miller, a former State Dept. official, alleges in a scathing New York Times op-ed.

Miller claims that the State Dept. and President Bush himself strongly supported a comprehensive anti-human trafficking law to crack down on the transportation and exploitation of what he calls sex slaves. But the Justice Dept. decided that its federal resources could be better spent and rejected the legislation.

Besides unloading on his former bureaucratic rivals, Miller makes a compelling case that many prostitutes are, in fact, practically slaves. These are not adults doing their profession of choice, but kids:  the average prostitute starts work at age 14.-MB

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