...og Bush-doktrinen sier: De som hjelper terrorister skal behandles som
terrorister.. Fra dagens Washington Post. - Per
Ashcroft Defends Anti-Terrorism Steps
Civil Liberties Groups' Attacks 'Only Aid Terrorists,' Senate Panel Told
By Dan Eggen
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, December 7, 2001; Page A01
Attorney General John D. Ashcroft resolutely defended the Justice
Department's anti-terrorism tactics yesterday, telling a Senate committee
the measures are necessary to prevent future attacks and suggesting that
criticism of them aids the terrorist cause.
Peppered by congressional skepticism but bolstered by overwhelming public
support in recent weeks, Ashcroft appeared before the Senate Judiciary
Committee to champion Bush administration strategies since the Sept. 11
attacks. The methods include the detention of hundreds of foreign
nationals and plans to try alleged terrorists and their accomplices before
military tribunals.
Ashcroft accused unidentified critics of exaggerating or mischaracterizing
administration policies, saying the Justice Department "has sought to
prevent terrorism with reason, careful balance and excruciating attention
to detail."
"We need honest, reasoned debate, not fear-mongering," Ashcroft said. "To
those who scare peace-loving people with phantoms of lost liberty, my
message is this: Your tactics only aid terrorists, for they erode our
national unity and diminish our resolve. They give ammunition to . . .
enemies and pause to . . . friends."
Ashcroft's bold language prompted protest from interest groups, who, along
with some in Congress, have criticized government tactics as civil
liberties infringements. But Judiciary Committee members were circumspect
in comparison, confining most questions to specific policy issues and
appearing reticent to pick a public fight with an attorney general leading
a popular anti-terror campaign. The most spirited debate centered not on
terrorism but on gun policy, as several Democratic senators criticized
Ashcroft for preventing the FBI from checking whether some of the hundreds
of people detained in the post-Sept. 11 investigation had sought to
purchase guns in the United States.
Committee Chairman Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.), who has complained about a
lack of Senate input into the anti-terror program, said he planned to
continue offering congressional guidelines for conducting military
tribunals, despite little apparent support for the idea among Senate and
House leaders.
"This is not a question of whether you are for or against terrorists,"
Leahy said after the hearing. "Everyone is against terrorists. This is
about whether we are adequately protecting civil liberties."
Civil liberties advocates were similarly unhappy with Ashcroft's
suggestions that skepticism about the anti-terror plan is unwarranted
while the nation is at war.
"It is sad that the attorney general treats honest criticism as
un-American and unpatriotic," said Georgetown University law professor
Samuel Dash, a Democrat who served as the Senate Watergate Committee's
chief counsel. "These are fear tactics that chill debate. President Nixon
also treated critics as enemies."
Committee Republicans rallied around their former colleague. Sen. Orrin G.
Hatch (Utah), the ranking GOP member who helped Ashcroft win his
contentious confirmation last January, praised Ashcroft's performance
since Sept. 11 and decried the "hysterical concerns" of some detractors.
"Certainly the American people are not watching us quibble about whether
we should provide more rights than the Constitution requires to the
criminals and terrorists who are devoted to killing our people," Hatch
said. "They are interested in making sure that we protect our country
against terrorist attacks."
Ashcroft, a conservative former U.S. senator whose appointment as attorney
general was bitterly opposed by Leahy and most other Senate Democrats, has
emerged as one of the key figures in the Bush administration's war on
terrorism.
He pushed Congress to quickly approve legislation in October that expanded
the ability of law enforcement and intelligence agencies to tap phones,
monitor Internet traffic and conduct other forms of surveillance in
pursuit of terrorists.
Ashcroft has also issued administrative rules allowing the monitoring of
privileged communications between attorneys and detainees who are
suspected terrorists; ordered prosecutors to seek interviews with more
than 5,000 young, mostly Middle Eastern men visiting the United States;
and has presided over a broad national effort to detain hundreds of
foreign nationals accused of immigration violations or minor crimes -- but
has refused to identify most of them or reveal information about many of
their cases.
The government also has threatened to deport or jail illegal immigrants
who decline to cooperate with authorities, while offering visas and
potential citizenship to those who provide information on terrorist
networks.
The measures have proven popular with the public, which, polls show,
overwhelmingly favors military tribunals and aggressive detention
policies. But the effort has prompted rising condemnation from civil
liberties groups, Arab American organizations and a vocal minority in the
House and Senate. Yesterday's appearance before Leahy's panel was the
latest in a string of public appearances and interviews in which Ashcroft
responded to the criticism.
In his testimony, Ashcroft said the monitoring of attorney-client
communications, which applies to just 16 federal prisoners, requires the
government to notify the targets beforehand and prohibits use of the
information by prosecutors or law enforcement agents except to forestall
an imminent terrorist attack.
Ashcroft also rejected complaints that some detainees do not have adequate
legal representation or have been prevented from seeking counsel. One man
detained for nearly two months, Yemeni citizen Ali Maqtari, testified
earlier this week that he was allowed minimal contact with his attorney
and family, and was threatened by investigators while in custody.
Authorities say he is innocent. But Ashcroft, holding a "terrorist manual"
allegedly used by Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network, warned that
terrorists are instructed to concoct stories of mistreatment and otherwise
use the nation's open society to their advantage in planning and staging
attacks. "In this manual, al Qaeda terrorists are now told how to use
America's freedom as a weapon against us," Ashcroft said. "We are at war
with an enemy that abuses individual rights as it abuses jetliners. It
abuses those rights to make weapons of them with which to kill Americans."
Ashcroft strongly defended Bush's order allowing military tribunals,
though he referred specific questions about how the courts would be run to
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, who would oversee the system.
In offering a promise of "full and fair proceedings," Ashcroft joined
administration officials who have sought to reassure lawmakers that the
tribunals would be used in narrow circumstances involving alleged war
criminals. But Ashcroft also acknowledged that the order can be applied to
any noncitizen, allows proceedings to be held in secret and provides for
indefinite detention of alleged war criminals. Nonetheless, criticism of
the plan is overblown, Ashcroft said, and "charges of kangaroo courts and
shredding the Constitution give new meaning to the term 'the fog of war.'
"
But while several Democratic senators, including Russell Feingold (Wis.)
and Edward M. Kennedy (Mass.), expressed misgivings about some the
anti-terror tactics, there were relatively few heated exchanges between
them and Ashcroft. In response to his suggestion that criticism might aid
terrorists, Feingold asked Ashcroft for "assurance that you do not
consider the hearings that we have been holding . . . as . . . somehow
aiding the terrorists by eroding national unity."
Ashcroft responded: "I did indicate that we need reasoned discourse as
opposed to fear mongering. And I think that's fair. This is the place
where reasoning and discourse take place."
Staff writer Jim McGee contributed to this report.
© 2001 The Washington Post Company
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