The Perjurer General

From NBC news:

The 9/11 commission is busy writing its final report, but is still investigating critical facts, including the conduct of U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft. NBC News has learned that the commission has interviewed two FBI officials who contradict sworn testimony by Ashcroft, about whether he brushed off terrorism warnings in the summer of 2001.

Ashcroft claimed that other Justice Dept.officials present at the meeting, including Dep. Atty. General Larry Thompson, would refute claims by former acting FBI Director Tom Pickard and other FBI officials that Aschroft had instructed FBI officials to stop raising the issue of terror threats inside the U.S. However, rather than refuting these claims, Thompson now says "I do not recall the conversation that interim director Pickard referred to." And that, of course, is precisely what one would say if one were worried about a perjury charge.

John Aschroft could have challenged Pickard's testimony before the 9/11 Commission by arguing that in the context of the particular conversation he only intended to defer the conversation of terror threats inside the U.S. He could have claimed, as Thompson now has, that he did not recall the conversation. Instead, our Attorney General demonstrated the same contempt for the 9/11 Commission that he has demonstrated for the Constitution, Congress and for the American people. He lied, and denied the conversation ever took place.

John Ashcroft is a contemptible little man who has resorted to trumpeting bogus terror threats in the belief that fearmongering will be politically advantageous to the administration of which he is a shameful member. His Justice Department has attempted to suppress domestic political opposition by subpoenaing people in violation of their first amendment rights, on the basis of nothing more than a desire to learn with whom they associate, and in the absence of any evidence that the targets of the subpoenas were engaged in illegal activities. For this reason alone John Aschroft should have been prosecuted. His perjury before the 9/11 Commission is just one more reason why this travesty of an Attorney General must be terminated and then prosecuted.