WORLD : AIDS Comment Riles Australians

A U.S. judge came under a blistering attack today for saying AIDS victims who spread the disease should be exiled to Australia.

U.S. District Court Judge Robert Potter was criticized by Australian groups set up to combat the deadly virus and callers to radio talks shows, who described the remarks to students at a Charlotte, N.C., college as “frightening.”

Potter, nicknamed “Maximum Bob” for his tough sentences, told students at Belmont Abbey College on Thursday that airplanes carrying drugs from Colombia should be shot down and that AIDS patients who spread their disease should be sent to Australia.

The judge’s comments were published Friday in the Charlotte Observer. The afternoon tabloid, the Daily Mirror, spread the judge’s comments across the front page, followed by a hard-hitting editorial and a six-column cartoon showing the judge with a large foot in his mouth.

The editorial was titled, “Ugly Idea From Ugly American.”