Pittsburgh Post Gazette Editorial calls Ashcroft "weasel"

[No Mandate Here.]

and comes close to blaming 911 on him!

<http://www.postgazette.com/pg/04115/305695.stm>

<snip>

Mr. Ashcroft used weasel words to deny testimony by the former acting FBI director that the attorney general seemed maddeningly uninterested in details of threats to the United States by Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida in the months leading up to 9/11.

Thomas Pickard, who ran the FBI in mid-2001 after the resignation of Louis Freeh and before Robert Mueller took over a week prior to the attacks, said he was notified on Sept. 12 that an FBI request for an extra $58 million to fight al-Qaida had been denied. Moreover, Mr. Pickard said he had briefed the attorney general on al-Qaida threats twice that summer before Mr. Ashcroft told him "he did not want to hear this information anymore."