By Barry Grey
28 May 2004
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2004/may2004/ash-m28.shtmlThe ostensible purpose of the extraordinary press conference held Wednesday by Attorney General John Ashcroft and FBI Director Robert Mueller was to alert the American people to the danger of an imminent terrorist attack. But neither of the two officials could cite a single piece of evidence to substantiate their claim that such an attack was in the offing, or even explain why they had called the press conference in the first place.
Ashcroft began by declaring that “credible intelligence from multiple sources” indicated that “Al Qaeda plans to attempt an attack on the United States in the next few months”. He and Mueller pointed to next month’s G-8 summit in Georgia and this summer’s Democratic and Republican conventions as possible targets. But they failed to cite a single specific source for their conclusion that an attack was highly likely. They acknowledged, under questioning from reporters, that they had no idea where, when or how the attack would be launched.
They gave out the names and displayed photos of seven individuals who, they asserted, were linked to Al Qaeda and involved in plots against the American homeland. But, they had to admit, they did not know whether any of these people were currently in the US. In fact, they had no knowledge of the whereabouts of any of the seven. Nor did they, in Mueller’s words, “have any reason at this time to believe that they are working in concert”.
US authorities had publicly released the names of six of the alleged terrorists months ago. The only new name was that of a 25-year-old US citizen—Adam Yahiye Gadahn, aka Adam Pearlman—who reportedly was raised in California and converted to Islam. But when asked by a reporter for more details about the alleged Al Qaeda operative, both Ashcroft and Mueller were at a loss.
Reporter: “When did he convert to Islam, by whom, where did he grow up in the US?”
Ashcroft: “I cannot. But it may be that the director wants to provide more information.”
Mueller: “The West Coast, grew up on the West Coast, converted to Islam fairly—in his youth. And that’s about as far as I can go right now.”
Even more astonishing was Mueller’s response to a query about possible criminal charges against Gadahn.
“We would evaluate the evidence to determine whether or not charges are appropriate,” he replied.
In other words, the Justice Department and FBI had called a press conference to urge all Americans to be on the lookout for Gadahn and the other six, who Ashcroft described as armed and dangerous, but lacked sufficient evidence to even charge the 25-year-old with a crime!
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