As the U.S. Attorney General in 2001, John Ashcroft failed to list combating terrorism as one of the Justice Department’s top priorities. Instead he concentrated his efforts to overthrow Oregon’s assisted suicide law.
I say he should either get fired right away, or he should get Kovorkian out of jail NOW. What says you?
When I try to view the cite that you posted, I do not link to an article, am prompted to register (just FYI).
That said, A few thoughts on all of this 20/20 hindsight business that has been going on of late:
I hate that I am in a position to do this, as I have a host of legitimate problems with the current administration, but I think that in all probability the focus on if the current administration had terrorism as a high enough priority back in 2001 in mostly pointless.
I don’t think that anyone really could have prevented 9/11. Sure, there were probably a host of CIA and FBI scenarios that came from think-tanks that mentioned something very like 9/11 as a possibility but in the end I think that just about everyone was shocked and surprised when it actually happened. I also think that most of this is a terrible distraction.
It seems to me that there are plenty of things that are happening right now to which we can object without beating this dead horse. Do people really think that some smoking gun will be found? That a definitive report reached the right people and that they chose to ignore it and let all of those people die for political gain?
I think your two options have nothing to do with each other. Why should he let Kevorkian out of jail now? How would that absolve him of the terrorism fiasco?
Leaving out whether I agree with assisted suicide or not, it’s like saying, you concentrated your efforts on catching this thief instead of this murderer so you should let the thief out of prison. It makes no sense.
Ashcroft is right. Combatting terrorism is not a job the Justice Dept is equipped or capable of handling. Frankly, we can try a number of simple solutions (OK, simple but very hard solutions like hardening security at airports), but there are simple limits to what is possible. If terrorists want to, they can make a nuclear attack against the US, or something even worse. And there’s nothing you can do about it. Nor can John Ashcroft.
This link may expire, but for now you can view it without registration. It leads with the accusation that 9/11 was Clinton’s fault (let’s hear it for the “liberal” media) but also mentions the Justice Department’s pre-9/11 priorities.
I essentially agree with the second paragraph, but not the first. If the evidence shows the administration weakened counterterrorism efforts, that calls into question the notion held by many George W. Bush supporters and promoted by the administration that Clinton’s malfeasance left us vulnerable and GWB put us back on the right path.
If the administration’s decisions and actions are brought to light, an informed electorate can decide if they were justified. If they remain hidden, we have nothing to go on but self-serving assurances and accusations.
Um, I meant the second and first paragraphs after the first line of the second block of quoted text. Got it?
My two options have something to do with each other within the following perspective:
As a fundamentalist (terrorist?) bastard, Ashcroft is so wrapped up in his stupid, religious beliefs that he missed his national priorities. The fucker cannot separate the Church from the State and yet, as the US Attorney General for the first half of 2001, he allocated his time and energy on his hobby – playing the belief system of his religion, like a 12 year old boy in a video arcade. While he was playing with witchcraft and revenge games against the atheist liberals, he totally missed the threats within the United States that led to the 9/11 calamity. Ashcroft is another Ayatollah Khomeini, a guy who is more obsessed about how a man should make love to a pigeon rather than how Iran should progress towards becoming an advanced prosperous nation. Within that context, Neurotik, the options have a lot to do with each other. It is like the Titanic is sinking and the waiters are rearranging the chairs on the deck. What the f*** was he doing spending time meddling in local Oregon laws while the Al Qaida members in the US were getting ready to blow up the WTC and Pentagon? I hope you agree that the man got his priorities wrong.
Why should he let Kevorkian out of jail? Simple. Let this incompetent stupid man’s nose be rubbed in the very thing he had no business to meddle at the first place. He had no business going after the Oregon assisted suicide law rather than concentrating on the real threat to the US – Al Qaida Terrorism. I am glad Ashcroft eventually lost the Oregon’s case. But he needs to be further whipped for sacrificing 3000 peoples life while he was pursuing his hobby. He must be made to get Kevorkian out of jail.
Kevorkian is neither a thief nor a murderer. He is a doctor in Michigan. If he was a doctor in Oregon, he would be free. It makes a lot of sense if Ashcroft uses his position to change Michigan laws to Oregon laws. He’s got 6 months to go to do that. Don’t you think he should?
Nothing he could have done would have helped stop the 9/11 attacks. Period.
I don’t really care either way, frankly.
Changing the laws in Michigan have nothing to do with 9-11.
Yeah, the Justice Department and the FBI are more useful in things like censoring pictures of naked w2omen. :rolleyes: