John Ashcroft was right.

What do jailed terrorists have in common with jailed Mafia dons? The answer, as Attorney General John Ashcroft has been saying since September 11, is that they don't let a little thing like being behind bars keep them from directing operations. It may be a tad tougher than on the outside, but, hey, what are lawyers and translators for?

That terrorist modus operandi became clearer yesterday with the remarkable indictment of four people for providing material support and resources to an Egyptian-based terrorist organization known as the Islamic Group. Mr. Ashcroft said American attorney Lynne Stewart and Arabic translator Mohammed Yousry helped their client, "Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman, direct terrorist activity from his prison cell." The "blind sheik" is serving a life sentence for conspiracy in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and to blow up other New York landmarks.

The alleged crimes took place before September 11 but could not be revealed before now, Mr. Ashcroft said, for fear of "exposing Americans to greater risk." That said, they were the impetus for the post-9/11 announcement that the feds were going to listen in on the conversations of a few federal inmates and their lawyers.

Anti-Ashcroft hysteria, never below a slow simmer, boiled over with that news. Never mind that the eavesdropping would apply to only 16 of the 158,000 guests of the government, that the inmates and their lawyers would be notified in advance, and that none of the information could be used for prosecution. To listen to the critics, the fate of civilization hung on the sanctity of this small corner of attorney-client privilege.

Yesterday Mr. Ashcroft quoted from an al Qaeda training manual. If a terrorist lands in jail, it instructs, his duty is to "communicate with brothers outside prison and exchange information that may be helpful to them in their work." Mark down one more case where Mr. Ashcroft has had a better understanding of the national interest than have his critics.