"This is political. If I were you, I'd just go quietly."

Thankfully, David Iglesias is not a Loyal Bushie like the man who uttered that pearl of banality, Texas U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton.

Instead, Iglesias is a man of honor. He did not simply acquiesce and "go quietly." If he had, it is highly unlikely that the politicization of the Justice Department would have come to light.

Iglesias cites the exchange with Sutton in his upcoming book, "In Justice," as further evidence that he was forced out because Republicans were displeased with his refusal to prosecute Democrats.

"I couldn't believe what I was hearing: a U.S. attorney all but admitting that a colleague was being hung out to dry for reasons that had nothing to do with performance or professionalism," he wrote in a draft of the book, which McClatchy obtained.

Sutton, who's the top U.S. attorney in San Antonio, didn't return phone calls Thursday seeking comment.

Sutton has close ties to Bush that date all the way back to aWol's first gubernatorial campaign, and as chairman of the Attorney General's Advisory Committee of U.S. Attorneys he was privy to the plans to get rid of the attorneys who weren't political enough in bringing prosecutions to influence the electoral process.

On the other hand, Sutton gets plenty of mileage out of being a Loyal Bushie, and has taken full advantage of the cover that generates, and clung to his own job in spite of calls for his resignation. He has been accused of overzealously prosecuting two Border Patrol agents, Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean, both of whom were sentenced to more than 10 years in prison for shooting a Mexican drug runner as he was trying to flee back to Mexico.

"The type of protection from political pressure that Johnny has gotten was the kind of protection that I thought we would get," said Iglesias, who quickly adds that he bears no grudge against Sutton. "And we didn't get it, I think largely because we didn't have a personal relationship with the president."