New "patriotic" watchdog group. (Insider Report).

Girding to battle those who hate "American ideals of freedom and equality' William Bennett unveiled his new organization, "Americans for Victory Over Terrorism" (AVOT) at a March 12th Washington press conference. Working in alliance with former CIA Director James Woolsey and former Defense Department official Frank Gaffney, Bennett promised to take his fight "to campuses, salons, oratorical societies, editorial pages and television."

The first sortie in AVOT's campaign was a full-page ad in the March 10th Sunday New York Times denouncing both our nation's foreign terrorist enemies and critics of the Bush administration's war strategy; the latter were accused of exploiting the war "to promulgate their agenda of 'blame America first.'" Asked at the press conference to identify an example of the domestic "threat," Bennett singled out former President Jimmy Carter, who had criticized President Bush for using the expression axis of evil" to describe Iraq, Iran, and North Korea. "He's wrong, and those who rally to him weaken the resolve of others," thundered Bennett.

In fact, from AVOT's perspective, any American who puts into practice our nation's "ideals of freedom and equality" to criticize Bush administration policy is guilty of aiding and abetting terrorism. The group condemned Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) for suggesting that it was foolish to give the president open-ended authority to fight terrorists, since "we didn't know that he ... was going to go crazy with it." (The fact that Waters has made many foolish utterances of her own does not make her wrong in this instance.) Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) was condemned for accusing the administration and Congress of "canceling, in effect, the First, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth and Eighth amendments." Liberal journalist Robert Kuttner provoked AVOT's ire by expressing concerns about the "dubious notion of a permanent war."

Much like "Walking Together," a Kremlin-created group promoting Vladimir Putin's personality cult (see page 31), AVOT was created for the purpose of shouting down critics of President Bush. "By President Bush's declaration to Congress, America is at war with states that harbor terrorists or sponsor terrorism," states the group -- ignoring the fact that the constitutional authority to declare war belongs to the Congress, not the president. AVOT insists that "the war cannot be won without firm support from American citizens for the policies our President laid out in his Joint Session Address to Congress and his State of the Union [address]."

Bennett's group also promises to "support democratic patriotism when it is questioned," and "take to task those groups and individuals who fundamentally misunderstand the nature of the war we are facing." Apparently, the defense of "democratic" patriotism will require impugning the patriotism of Americans who express misgivings about damage done to our constitutional system by the war effort.