Our own terror cells

If the Bush administration treated homegrown terrorists like their overseas comrades, its dragnet could ensnare the far political right -- and John Ashcroft.

By Frederick Clarkson

Jan 8, 2002 | Self-described anti-abortion "terrorist" Clayton Waagner, arrested last month by the FBI, might remain a footnote in the White House's war on terror. But should the Department of Justice decide to treat Waagner -- the man who has admitted to sending hundreds of anthrax threats to clinics and abortion rights organizations in October and November -- as more than just a lone nut case, and rather as part of a domestic terrorist network, that could all change quickly.

And if the Justice Department decides to pursue this network with the same zeal with which it has pursued foreign terrorist networks in this country, it could expose a network that spreads broadly from the far-right fringe to right-wing politics. Even, indirectly, to the attorney general himself.

Waagner signed his anthrax hoax letters "Army of God" -- after the violent anti-abortion group he affiliates with. An Army of God adjunct called Prisoners of Christ, meanwhile, gets part of its cash flow from an Oklahoma City company called AmeriVision, which fashions itself as a Christian right version of the liberal Working Assets long-distance phone service. AmeriVision -- using the brand name "LifeLine" -- "provides 10 percent of our long distance revenues to thousands of organizations that support family values -- all part of our Christian commitment of helping others," according to its Web site. LifeLine's client list reads like a who's who of the Christian right: American Family Association, Concerned Women for America, Christian Broadcasting Network, the Christian Coalition, Gun Owners of America and the National Right to Life Committee. For several years LifeLine also partnered with the militant anti-abortion group Operation Rescue.

AmeriVision says it has donated over $50 million to its "partners" in the 10 years of its existence. One of those partners is Prisoners of Christ -- whose address is a private postal box four blocks from the White House. This reporter called LifeLine in December as a prospective customer and was told that LifeLine had cut checks averaging between $40 and $50 a month to Prisoners of Christ since May of 1996, and that the money flows to a Washington D.C. public relations group called Christian Communication Network headed by Gary McCullough -- the longtime principal of Prisoners of Christ. (McCullough's group maintains a web link to the Prisoners of Christ site.) When Salon called McCullough for comment about the LifeLine connection, he said, "We are a small potato in that pie and I prefer not to comment," then hung up. When Salon contacted LifeLine again for an official response, we were told that under the privacy rules set forth by the Federal Communications Commission, they "cannot give out customer or donor information."

Meanwhile, during the time of his announcement for president, then-Sen. John Ashcroft was the Christian right's favorite contender. To help finance his campaign, Ashcroft made a pilgrimage to Oklahoma City, where he addressed a group of AmeriVision executives at the Oklahoma City Marriott Hotel on Nov. 11, 1997, according to an account in the St. Louis Post Dispatch. Campaign finance reports reveal that top AmeriVision executives kicked at least $26,500 into Ashcroft's Spirit of America PAC within days of the candidate's personal pitch for funds. Contributors included company founders Tracy Freeny and Carl Thompson, who each contributed $5,000 to Ashcroft's Spirit of America PAC. Major stockholder and soon to be board member Jay Sekulow and his wife, Pamela, also contributed $5,000 each; five executives of AmeriVision's VisionQuest and Hebron marketing divisions contributed a total of $5,000; and investor and later director John Damoose added $500.

In 2000, AmeriVision board member Jay Sekulow and Pamela Sekulow contributed the legal maximum of $2,000 each to Ashcroft's unsuccessful reelection campaign to the U.S. Senate.

Should President Bush's imposition of "terrorist sanctions" be applied to companies with ties to domestic terrorists -- as with the 62 individuals and businesses whose assets were frozen because of their alleged ties to foreign terrorists -- it is conceivable that not only Army of God but, through its connections, AmeriVision could be a target as well. And Ashcroft would find himself in the awkward position of trying to investigate one of his own campaign contributors.

Embarrassment caused by financial contributors is not a new problem for politicians, of course. "If you strip away the hot button issues of abortion and terrorism," says Larry Noble, executive director of the Center for Responsive Politics, "what you have is a classic case of a business having made campaign contributions. And now the administration has to make a decision that may financially impact that business. People will logically ask, what connection is there between the campaign contribution and the decision?"

But contributions from groups with ties to any form of terrorism, of course, are a whole different story. And foes of Army of God -- and Ashcroft, who has largely given a cold shoulder to abortion rights groups since taking office -- are more than eager to promote Waagner and the group as serious domestic threats.

Next Page: Will the DOJ single out the Army of God?

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