An excellent piece by Deroy Murdock looks at just one of the reasons New Yorkers should be grateful to departing Attorney General John Ashcroft: What Ashcroft Did For You, N.Y.

November 16, 2004 — AS Attorney General John Ashcroft concludes his duties, Americans should applaud him for using the Patriot Act to charge 372 suspected terrorists and convict 194 of them since 9/11.

For example, absent the Patriot Act, Babar still might stroll the sidewalks of New York, gathering money and equipment for al Qaeda.

According to the now-unsealed transcript of his June 3 appearance before U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero, Babar pleaded guilty to five counts of furnishing “material support or resources to a foreign terrorist organization” including “making or receiving a contribution of funds, goods or services to, and for the benefit of al Qaeda.”

Babar, 29 — a Pakistan-born, Queens-reared U.S. citizen — rose in federal court and confessed: “From summer ‘03 to about March of ‘04, I provided night-vision goggles, sleeping bags, waterproof socks, waterproof ponchos and money to a high-ranking al Qaeda official in southern Waziristan,” an Islamo-fascist-friendly Pakistani province.

He added, “In January and February ‘04, I went myself, personally, to South Waziristan and handed over money to, and supplies to a high ranking al Qadea official.”

The former St. John’s University student continued: “I set up a jihad training camp where those who wanted to go into Afghanistan where they could learn how to use weapons, and also, you know, any explosive devices that they wanted to test over there. And I also provided lodging and transportation in Pakistan for them … ”

“I was aware that some of the people who attended the jihad training camp had ideas about, you know, plotting against some targets in the United Kingdom, and I provided some of the materials … for them in the use of explosive devices that was [sic] then tested out at the training camp.”

The Associated Press quoted an official who said Babar conspired to “blow up pubs, restaurants and train stations” in London.

“I understood that I was involved in ongoing military operations within Afghanistan,” Babar said, “and also that al Qaeda was involved in military organizations outside of Afghanistan, namely bombings and hijackings and kidnappings.”

FBI and NYPD officers arrested Babar April 10 as he approached his taxi-driving course in Long Island City, Queens. The FBI had watched for Babar — whose mother fled the ninth floor of 1 World Trade Center on 9/11 — since he told a Canadian TV crew in Pakistan: “I’m willing to kill Americans.”

The fact that Babar is behind bars and not trolling Gotham chemical suppliers for car-bomb ingredients is yet another Patriot Act success story.