SELF-IMMOLATION:

TORRICELLI'S TERROR PAL$ (Sam Dealey, 17 September 2002, New York Post)

NEW Jersey voters already concerned about Sen. Robert Torricelli's low ethical threshold now learn that he's been a paid shill for a group the government identifies as a terrorist organization. Called on this by his Republican opponent, Douglas Forrester, in a debate Thursday, Torricelli said the group had been pulled from the State Department's global terror list and given a clean bill of health. Not true.

Of course, Torricelli did lobby to have the National Council of Resistance pulled from the list. Senators (especially ones like Torricelli) do things like that for folks who've donated generously.

But the State Department has insisted for years that the council is just a front formed by the deadly People's Mujahedin of Iran in a bid for political legitimacy - the two groups' leadership is that entwined, for starters.

And when it came to the Mujahedin in all its aliases, the case was too strong. Despite Torricelli's near decade-long letter-writing campaign, the group remains among State's 28 targeted organizations, right up there with Hamas, Hezbollah and al Qaeda. And with good reason.

At this rate, Forrester should just go into seclusion and let the Torch keep burning himself. Posted by Orrin Judd at September 17, 2002 3:23 PM