Washington Post: On Hill, Ashcroft Defends Anti-Terror Tactics. Attorney General John D. Ashcroft today defiantly faced congressional critics, defending the Justice Department’s aggressive tactics in prosecuting terrorism and suggesting that people who oppose the government’s plans are aiding the terrorists.
So now dissent — or even a difficult question — is tantamount to treason. This disgusting charge from John Ashcroft should be given the contempt it deserves.
Ashcroft and his colleagues in the Bush adminstration, including the president, are in the middle of the most dangerous over-reaching of power in many decades. They’re treating the Constitution as a piece of parchment that deserves defense only when times are tranquil.
Surveys show that Americans are widely supportive of the administration’s policies, apparently because the abuses will hit non-citizens for the most part. To those who think they’re immune from the abuses that are already occurring and will only grow in number, I say this: Wait until you, or someone you love, gets caught in the government’s crosshairs.
If Americans think that destroying freedom is the answer to terrorism, then America is truly losing its way. Protecting the Constitution is most important when times are difficult. That’s when it really matters.