Attorney General John Ashcroft announced yesterday that a Somali man has been indicted for allegedly being part of an Al Qaida plot to blow up a mall in Ohio. All of the nation’s major papers downplay the indictment. Law enforcement officials told the New York Times it appears the plan never advanced beyond the discussion stage and officials expressed doubt that the indicted man had the financial, organizational or technical skills to carry out an attack. New York Times columnist Paul Krugman notes today that Ashcroft’s announcement came just hours after the Washington Post released the text of a Justice Department memo that concluded torture 'May Be Justified.” Last week Ashcroft refused to release the text of the memo to Congress. In his column, Krugman describes Ashcroft as the country's worst attorney general ever.