Krugman Nails Ashcroft's Extremism--Again!

[BurtWorm]

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/22/opinion/22KRUG.html

June 22, 2004
OP-ED COLUMNIST
Noonday in the Shade
By PAUL KRUGMAN

In April 2003, John Ashcroft's Justice Department disrupted what appears to have been a horrifying terrorist plot. In the small town of Noonday, Tex., F.B.I. agents discovered a weapons cache containing fully automatic machine guns, remote-controlled explosive devices disguised as briefcases, 60 pipe bombs and a chemical weapon ? a cyanide bomb ? big enough to kill everyone in a 30,000-square-foot building.

Strangely, though, the attorney general didn't call a press conference to announce the discovery of the weapons cache, or the arrest of William Krar, its owner. He didn't even issue a press release. This was, to say the least, out of character. Jose Padilla, the accused "dirty bomber," didn't have any bomb-making material or even a plausible way to acquire such material, yet Mr. Ashcroft put him on front pages around the world. Mr. Krar was caught with an actual chemical bomb, yet Mr. Ashcroft acted as if nothing had happened.

Incidentally, if Mr. Ashcroft's intention was to keep the case low-profile, the media have been highly cooperative. To this day, the Noonday conspiracy has received little national coverage.

...

In this case, it sounds over the top to accuse Mr. Ashcroft of trying to bury news about terrorists who don't fit his preferred story line. Yet it's hard to believe that William Krar wouldn't have become a household name if he had been a Muslim, or even a leftist. Was Mr. Ashcroft, who once gave an interview with Southern Partisan magazine in which he praised "Southern patriots" like Jefferson Davis, reluctant to publicize the case of a terrorist who happened to be a white supremacist?

...

[NMDemDist2]

1. wow, i heard that story and was amazed it never got any coverage

glad it's being brought to the light of day at last (and thank heavens, Dish Network and Pacific Network for Amy Goodman)

[billybob537]

2. Timothy McVeigh

was a white supremacist.

[fearnobush]

3. JOhn Asscroft is a White Supremacist.

His hands tainted by our dead Senators.

[rumguy]

4. Hey ashie baby - go over to freerepublic.com - you'll find lots of

domestic terrorists...in fact this guy probably posted there....

oh - but I guess that doesn't fit your storyline.

[proud patriot]

5. The fact that this story hasn't gotten coverage , makes me so mad

:grr:

[Left_Wing_Fox]

6. About time

The Taylor Texas bust is one of those things that really worries me about the Bush agenda. With all the criticism against the government in their failings on the War on Terror, they fail to push this case as a key example of a victory in that war. Why? Probably because it reveals the ugly truth: terrorism is best fought by police action and detective work here and abroad through international cooperation, not by military might and foreign adventure.

Is this really a War on Terror, or is it a War on Islam under the guise of terror?

Me, I think it's a War on OPEC with Islamic terrorists as the justification. Much more profitable than sending the cops after their political base.

[NewJeffCT]

11. welcome to DU

And, good point - if we had gone in with tanks rolling & guns blazing, maybe it would have looked better.

Good comparison between Krar & Padilla - Krar actually had WMD, while Padilla had NONE!!

[senseandsensibility]

7. God,

I love Krugman! And remember, he's been saying this stuff all along, even through the contested 2000 election. He has never been a cheerleader. And every column he has written had been proven right!
Too bad he has to work for the Times. It tarnishes his reputation to be associated with that lying rag.

[BurtWorm]

8. Some of us think it raises the Times' reputation to be associated

with Krugman. ;)

[senseandsensibility]

9. It does work both ways

But it seems to me that the editors prefer their news "Judith Miller"
style. I know she's not a columnist with a "point of view" like Krugman, but his facts stand up better than hers. What does it say about the management that Miller is still at the paper?

[BurtWorm]

10. The editorial and the reporting are two different houses

and I like the way Gail Collins runs her house than the way Bill Keller runs his. The Times has suffered reportorially since Max Frankel left--in fact, since Sulzberger Jr. took over as publisher.

[gottaB]

12. White Terror

Black Commentator had the William Krar story back in December

http://www.blackcommentator.com/70/70_cover_white_terror.html

[BurtWorm]

13. Excellent article, with lots of links to more info on the Krar case.

Like this quote from Intelligence Squad “Suddenly it becomes clear why John Ashcroft isn’t going to make a big deal out of nailing these guys: they are essentially a more extreme version of Ashcroft himself.”