WHY DID ASHCROFT STOP FLYING COMMERCIAL AIRLINES PRIOR TO 9/11?: Months
before 9/11 Ashcroft began "traveling exclusively by leased jet aircraft
(http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2001/...in303601.shtml)
instead of commercial airlines." Ashcroft started flying on the $40 million
GulfStream 5 -- at a cost to taxpayers of $1600 an hour -- because of an FBI
threat assessment. But the FBI would not say "what the threat was, when it
was detected or who made it." The jet was supposed to be "for use in special
investigations and for the transport of terrorists
(http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/13/po...nted=print&pos
ition=) and other dangerous suspects." Months after 9/11, in an attempt to
deflect criticism, a Justice Department spokesman said the threat was about
"nonspecific threats against Ashcroft's life." (See Ashcroft's own
ramblings on the subject in this video
(http://www.americanprogress.org/atf/...A521-5D6FF2E06
E03%7d/ASHCROFT911.WMV) ). But the FBI threat assessment has never been made
public. Until Ashcroft releases the document, questions about his conduct
will persist.