If AG Johnny Ashcan should kick the bucket, it would mean he would never get the chance to tell the 9-11 Commission why he stopped flying commercial back in the summer of 2001. Remember? He started flying government charter for his weekend fishing trips back to Missouri. Even should he recover from this sudden case of a potentially fatal disease, he might not be sufficiently healthy to testify or to serve time.
FLASHBACK:
Ashcroft Flying HighWASHINGTON, July 26, 2001
Fishing rod in hand, Attorney General John Ashcroft left on a weekend trip to Missouri Thursday afternoon aboard a chartered government jet, reports CBS News Correspondent Jim Stewart. In response to inquiries from CBS News over why Ashcroft was traveling exclusively by leased jet aircraft instead of commercial airlines, the Justice Department cited what it called a "threat assessment" by the FBI, and said Ashcroft has been advised to travel only by private jet for the remainder of his term.
"There was a threat assessment and there are guidelines. He is acting under the guidelines," an FBI spokesman said. Neither the FBI nor the Justice Department, however, would identify what the threat was, when it was detected or who made it.
A senior official at the CIA said he was unaware of specific threats against any Cabinet member, and Ashcroft himself, in a speech in California, seemed unsure of the nature of the threat.
CONTINUED...
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2001/07/26/national/main303601.shtmlBTW: I hope Ashcroft fully recovers. Not just so he can testify, but because he is a human being, I believe, and, as such, deserves to be treated like I'd like to be treated. Then, I've never acted like a traitor.