Cronkite Criticizes Ashcroft

And now the most scintillating two minutes in television, the latest from the wartime grapevine:

‘Thai-ing’ Up Terrorists

A new report out today says police in Thailand foiled an Al Qaeda (search) plot to shoot down an Israeli passenger jet at Bangkok International Airport with surface-to-air-missiles.

The report, quoted in the Haaretz newspaper, says police arrested one Al Qaeda operative three months ago after he was spotted taking pictures near facilities used by El Al…the Israeli national airline...at Bangkok International.

Upon searching the unnamed suspect's home, authorities found the outlines of the primary plot and other plans to attack El Al passengers in the airport terminal or on their way to the plane before takeoff.

War Support Declines

A new poll out today…taken over the weekend…shows that only half of Americans now believe the situation in Iraq was worth going to war over, down from 58 percent just a week and a half ago.

But a new Pew Research Center Poll out today finds a majority of the public, by 63 to 31 percent, believes the Iraq war was, "the right decision."

Meanwhile, the Gallup poll also shows that 43 percent of Americans now believe Saddam Hussein (search) was personally involved in the 9/11 atrocities, down from 53 percent a month ago. Some polls show as much as 70 percent of Americans still believe Saddam was personally involved.

Naughty Networks?

Iraq's new governing council is punishing Arab television networks Al-Jazeera (search) and Al-Arabiya (search) for allegedly inciting violence in Iraq.

The council has passed a resolution banning the two networks from any official events for at least the next two weeks. The council had considered banning the networks from broadcasting altogether, but then realized that was not legally possible.

An Al-Arabiya official, meanwhile, is defending his network's war coverage, saying it tries to be as objective as possible and, "that includes allowing our channel to be a forum for everyone in Iraq society."

Cronkite Criticizes Ashcroft

Eminent former CBS newsman Walter Cronkite (search) is calling Attorney General John Ashcroft (search), "the Torquemada of American law."

Tomas de Torquemada (search) is deemed by some as the most evil man who ever lived for his leading role in developing the torturous methods of the Spanish Inquisition.

Cronkite, writing in the Philadelphia Inquirer, says "I am not accusing the attorney general of pulling out anyone's fingernails or burning people at the stake (at least I don't know of any such cases). But one does get the sense these days that the old Spaniard's spirit is comfortably at home in Ashcroft's Department of Justice."

— FOX News' Michael Levine contributed to this report