Start With Ashcroft
May 22, 2002
By Fritz Lamour

Ashcroft. The junior Senator from New York, Hillary Clinton, has brought up his name. So has Johnathan Alter of Newsweek. Michael Ruppert, an essayist responsible for the creation of the website FromTheWilderness.com has also made mention of Ashcroft.

And if I have any luck, concerned Americans who pay any attention to this essay might start to bring Ashcroft's name up daily and angrily as well. For example: at dinner tables; as part of conversation to begin with; then in emails to congressmen and women; and then, on to the mainstream press - the supposed gatekeepers of society as I'd been taught in journalism 101.

Why start with Ashcroft?

Well, to answer that question, allow me to ask this question: why was Ashcroft warned not to fly on commercial flights by early July, but not the general American public?

That Ashcroft avoided travel on commercial airlines by early July is a point that was raised by Sen. Clinton on the Senate floor recently. She also noted that a directive warning all justice department officials to avoid commercial air travel was issued by Ashcroft as well, shortly after a memoranda was electronically sent out to FBI headquarters in Washington and New York from Kenneth Williams, an FBI agent in Phoenix, warning of terrorists possibly training at flight schools.

Also, as reported by Johnathan Alter of Newsweek, of those most likely to take a hit in any sort of investigation is Ashcroft, "who last summer cut the FBI's request for an increase in its anti-terrorism budget by $58 million at the same time he was so worried about his own personal safety that he switched from flying commercial to government planes."

If this still doesn't seem as though this is reason enough to start a chorus of "But what about Ashcroft? But what about Ashcroft?" add Zacarias Moussaoui into the equation - the man most believe was the 20th hijacker. Moussaoui was in FBI custody by August 13, a month after Kenneth Williams contacted FBI headquarters.

Moussaoui, who was caught in Minnesota, after attempting to take flight courses there, earlier in the year had taken a flight training course in Oklahoma as well, and two weeks before 9/11 flight instructors at that school were questioned about Moussaui. He was considered dangerous enough by the FBI agents in Minnesota that they, as reported by Michael Ruppert in his essay The Lie Won't Stand, "wrote notes that subsequently became included in an internal FBI document warning that accused terrorist Zacarias Moussaoui 'might be planning on flying something into the World Trade Center.'"

As Ruppert goes on to chronicle in his essay, "A multitude of sources have reported the FBI agents requested a warrant to search Moussaoui's personal computer but were denied by Attorney General John Ashcroft's Justice Department. After the 9/11 attacks the computer was seized and found to contain information directly related to the World Trade Center attacks."

Now, in my own personal estimation, concerned citizens like those I constantly come across on this site should pull at that string before any other, because there are so many threads that can unravel who knew what and when that concerned citizens may find themselves unable to attract the attention of our society's gatekeepers; who should be well aware of what to ask and who to ask, but rarely are or do.

Consider the fact that no news has yet to be broken about insider trading involving September 11th. Or reports that numerous foreign intelligence agencies contacted federal officials with warnings. Or that even individuals - American and foreign - made similar attempts. These are all threads, but whether or not the gatekeepers will ever begin to tug on them is anyone's guess.

But Ashcroft? Ashcroft? Ashcroft?

Come on people. Lets start tugging.

Sources:
The Lie Won't Stand by Michael Ruppert
George W. Bush Should Learn The Lessons Of History by Jonathan Alter
Excerpts from Senator Clinton's Speech
The New York Times