WASHINGTON (AP) – Attorney General John Ashcroft, defending administration measures to counteract terrorism, declared yesterday the nation must not let down its guard against threats that present “a daily chronicle of the hatred of Americans by fanatics.”
- Paul Wong
- Attorney General John Ashcroft testifies yesterday before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Defending against terror, he said, “is our first law enforcement priority.”<br><br>AP PHOTO
Holding aloft an al-Qaida terrorism manual, Ashcroft told the Senate Judiciary Committee: “We are at war with an enemy that abuses individual rights as it abuses jetliners Defending our nation and its citizens against terrorist attacks is now our first law enforcement priority.”
Ashcroft”s appearance came in an atmosphere of mounting criticism by Senate Democrats that the Justice Department moved too far, too quickly, to implement a host of stern investigative measures in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Ashcroft chided critics of the various measures, including the government”s detention and questioning of hundreds of Middle Eastern men.
He said critics are uninformed. “Charges of kangaroo courts and shredding the Constitution give new meaning to the term “the fog of war,”” he said.
“Each action taken by the Department of Justice as well as the war crimes commission is carefully drawn to cover a narrow class of individuals terrorists,” Ashcroft declared.
On the 87th day since the attack, Ashcroft told lawmakers he received chilling daily intelligence reports.
“My day begins with a review of the threats to Americans and American interests,” Ashcroft said. “If ever there were proof of evil in the world it is in these reports.
“They are a chilling daily chronicle of the hatred of Americans by fanatics, who seek to extinguish freedom, enslave women, corrupt education, and to kill Americans wherever and whenever they can.”
The committee chairman, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) said the government needs a good reason to snoop into bank records, tax returns and e-mails.
Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) countered: “Let”s keep our focus on where it matters protecting U.S. citizens.”
Leahy said the president was taking a risk by acting without Congress to establish a tribunal system that might not survive Supreme Court scrutiny.
“It is a calculated risk that the Supreme Court will uphold something it has not upheld before,” Leahy said.
Ashcroft replied that Bush has an “inherent authority and power” to prosecute war crimes.