Dude, Where's My Country_ - Michael Moore [12]
But who was the one aiding the terrorists, Mr. Bush? An attorney general who won’t let the FBI do its job? An attorney general who won’t let the police thoroughly investigate what the terrorists were up to, including the purchasing of weapons?
At that same Senate hearing, Mr. Ashcroft held up what he said was an al Qaeda training manual.
“In this manual,” he warned, “al Qaeda terrorists are told how to use America’s freedom as a weapon against us.”
On this point he was correct. One of the freedoms al Qaeda apparently really likes is our Second Amendment.
Another al Qaeda pamphlet that was originally found in terrorist safe houses in Afghanistan heaps praise on the United States. Obviously, Ashcroft missed all of the beautiful irony.
Here’s what this al Qaeda training manual says:
• In some countries of the world, especially the USA, firearms training is available to the general public. One should try to join a shooting club if possible and make regular visits to the firing range. There are many firearms courses available to the public in the USA, ranging from one day to two weeks or more.
• Useful courses to learn are sniping, general shooting, and other rifle courses. Handgun courses are useful but only after you have mastered rifles.
• In other countries, e.g. some states of the USA and South Africa, it is perfectly legal for members of the public to own certain types of firearms. If you live in such a country, obtain an assault rifle legally, preferably an AK-47 or variations, learn how to use it properly and go and practice in the areas allowed for such training.
• Respect the laws of the country you are in and avoid dealing in illegal firearms. One can learn to operate many arms legally, so there is no need to spend years in prison for dealing in small, illegal firearms. Learn the most you can according to your circumstances and leave the rest to when you actually go for jihad.
So, Mr. Bush, al Qaeda is apparently plotting to use one of our “freedoms”—the right to bear arms—against us.
I truly love how you have rounded up hundreds of people, grabbing them off the streets without notice, throwing them in prison cells, unable to contact lawyers or family and then, for the most part, shipping them out of the country on mere immigration charges. You can waive their Fourth Amendment protection from unlawful search and seizure, their Sixth Amendment rights to an open trial by a jury of their peers and the right to counsel, and their First Amendment rights to speak, assemble, dissent and practice their religion. You believe you have the right to just trash all these rights, but when it comes to the Second Amendment right to own an AK-47—oh no! THAT right they can have—and you will defend their right to have it, even after they’ve flown a plane into a building and killed a bunch of people.
When this story first broke, you naturally got worried that it wouldn’t spin the right way to the public (the vast majority of whom want stronger gun laws), so you trotted out a Justice Department spokeswoman to explain to us that the decision had been reached by “senior Justice officials” after they had done an exhaustive study of “the law.” Among those spinmeisters was Mr. Viet Dinh—the assistant attorney general for legal policy. Dinh’s justification for blocking the background checks? According to The New York Times, “Mr. Dinh ruled that these checks were improper, reasoning that they would violate the privacy of these foreigners” (my emphasis).
Yes, when it comes