There is tremendous irony in the fact a religious fundamentalist extremist has been given the task of dealing with terrorism in this country by religious fundamentalist extremists. On the opposing side are the minions of Osama bin Laden. On our side, John Ashcroft, one of the most, if perhaps not the most, conservative religious fundamentalist ever to be Attorney General.

He has insisted that normal constitutional rights protections will have to be waved for some during this crises. He has supported secret military tribunals instead of open courts. He believes that extreme measures need to be taken against terrorists, who use fear to try and change American’s behavior.  Terrorists must be stopped, at almost any cost. Unless, of course, they don’t wear turbans and they happen to share his religious philosophy.

170 letters containing a powder were sent by a noted terrorist organization, followed by at least 132 overnight packages via Federal Express with a letter stating, "This contains anthrax. You're going to die." It was a very sophisticated operation, using forged air bills with a staff person's name and a valid PPFA account number. While so far none of the packages or letters has tested positive for Anthrax, you would think a massive terrorist campaign like this would get the Attorney General motivated to pull out all stops to arrest these evil miscreants. You would think he would at least stand up and publicly denounce this atrocity as a significant terrorist attack. Instead, he lumps it together with other hoaxes.

Unfortunately, the terrorists claiming credit for this call themselves the Army of God, a conservative fundamentalist Christian anti-abortion group, and the victims were over abortion clinics, Planned Parenthood, Catholics for a Free Choice, and other pro-choice organizations. It apparently was organized by a fanatical anti-abortionist who is on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted list.

In discussions with the press, Ashcroft as repeatedly downplayed the threat of domestic terrorism, insisting that there was no evidence of organized terrorism in the anthrax clinic attack. He lumped it together with incidents that turned out to be pranks.

Ashcroft has a long history of advocacy for anti-abortion causes, believing that even the birth control pill should be outlawed as it is a form of abortion. He has also sympathized with extreme right-wing causes, speaking of sympathy for the cause of the Confederacy when interviewed in a neo-Confederate magazine. 

Anti-abortion groups have long been the most violent and deadly of all extremist movements in the United States. Over 300 clinics have been bombed or attacked with acid, resulting in permanent damage. Since 1977, there have been 17 murder attempts on abortion providers. Yet Ashcroft, along with right-wing politicians such as Florida Rep. Porter J. Goss, chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, believe that domestic terrorists such as anti-abortion groups should not be a part of the war on terrorism. “The trouble is, ‘terrorism’ is a very broad word, and it lends itself to a lot of mischief for people who would abuse common sense,” Goss said. Specifically citing the bombings of abortion clinics, Goss said “To me, that’s not the kind of terrorism I’m talking about.” 

Anthrax threats against abortion clinics are not new, and have been going on for several years, although not on this unprecedented scale before and at a time of such high anxiety. Since June, Abortion Rights groups have been trying to get a meeting with Ashcroft on the issue. They are still waiting. Ironically, many law enforcement officials are beginning to think that the U.S. Anthrax attacks on Democratic politicans may be the work of domestic right wing terrorists. The Justice Department is still focused on an international link.

While Ashcroft has little time for domestic terrorism, his fight against international terrorism should perhaps give us pause. On Oct. 12, Ashcroft encouraged federal agencies to withhold documents requested under the Freedom of Information Act. In a memo to all government departments and agencies that replaces the more open Reno plocies, Ashcroft promised that "when you ... decide to withhold records, in whole or in part, you can be assured that the Department of Justice will defend your decisions unless they lack a sound legal basis."  He supports using secret military courts, holding people secretly without releasing their names or where they are being held, and revoking attorney client privilege for the detainees. He has advocated and initiated increasing government secrecy in many areas, including some seemingly unrelated to the fight on terrorism, such as in environmental issues. 

The Dec 1st issue of the Los Angeles Times revealed that Ashcroft is also seriously considering relaxing the rules restricting domestic spying by the FBI on religious and political groups. Before these rules went into effect, the FBI regularly targeted civil rights acitivists, black nationalists, and opponents of the Vietnam War,  and used illegal wiretaps, blackmail, extortion, anonymous letters, forgery, and incitement to riot against groups it considered potentially subversive (which often meant, as in the case of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., being on the wrong political side). 

Based on the concept that it takes one to know one, I’d say Ashcroft is the perfect man to fight these evil doers. But by using the fight against terrorism as an excuse to give this man such unprecedented power, we risk becoming more like the evil doers ourselves.

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