Tucson, Arizona Tuesday, 19 August 2003
By Eric Lichtblau
THE NEW YORK TIMES Ashcroft WASHINGTON - The Bush administration, facing increasing
criticism of its anti-terrorism policies, is beginning an unusual counteroffensive
this week to shore up support for the USA Patriot Act, which grew out of the
Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
The advocate in the campaign-style initiative is Attorney General John Ashcroft,
a politically divisive figure who plans to deliver more than a dozen speeches
around the country beginning today in defense of the administration's antiterrorism
efforts.
The initiative will take Ashcroft to states that are considered central to
Bush's 2004 re-election effort and where some political strategists say the
administration's tough antiterrorism tactics play well.
The Patriot Act, as the sweeping legislation passed after 9/11 is known, has
been a cornerstone of the administration's anti-terrorism policy, giving law
enforcement agents expanded powers to identify, track and apprehend suspects.
But the legislation has also become a target in recent months. The Republican-led
House voted overwhelmingly last month to repeal a key provision on the use of
surveillance; 152 communities have passed resolutions objecting to the legislation
because of what some saw as its Big Brother overtones; and civil liberties groups
are suing to have parts of the law struck down as unconstitutional.
The increasing opposition to the measure has clearly thrown the White House
on the defensive, according to people close to the administration.
Ashcroft, though often criticized by liberal and conservative policy-makers,
is seeking to solidify support for the law.
"The administration realizes that Ashcroft is a bit of a lightning rod,"
said a prominent Republican consultant. "He has his down-sides, but not
in the realm of prosecuting terrorism and protecting national security. He works
well in that area."
Over the next month, the attorney general will promote the law as an effective
tool against terrorism, speaking to law enforcement organizations and conservative
groups in such states as Iowa, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Ohio.
Two of the cities that Ashcroft will visit, Philadelphia and Detroit, have passed
resolutions opposing the act. But Justice Department officials said political
calculations did not factor into the attorney general's itinerary.
"The majority of American people are clearly supportive of our counterterrorism
efforts, including the use of the Patriot Act," said Mark Corallo, a Justice
Department spokesman. "It's important that after months of misinformation
being spread by a small but vocal minority inside the Beltway that we go out
beyond Washington and talk to people in law enforcement and let them know that
their efforts are appreciated."
Viet Dinh, a former Justice Department official who helped draft the Patriot
Act, said Ashcroft's agenda would be "to correct the misperceptions that
are out there and to disabuse the American public of the misinformation they've
gotten."
The themes will be similar to those that Ashcroft and top aides have voiced
for months - that the Patriot Act is essential to fight terrorism and that critics
have distorted what the law does to make it seem more onerous than it really
is.
But the current initiative underscores the urgency of a political debate that
many Republicans and Democrats say they believe the administration is losing.
Rep. C.L. Otter, R-Idaho, who sponsored last month's amendment in the House
repealing a surveillance power in the Patriot Act, said in an interview on Monday
that he viewed the campaign by Ashcroft as an effort "to try to reclaim
the ground that the Justice Department has lost."
Otter, who voted against the act in October 2001, said he thought it was a mistake
for Congress to move ahead with it just weeks after the 9/11 attacks at the
administration's urging.
The legislation gave law enforcement agents dozens of new tools for wiretapping
and following terrorism suspects and probing their financial and personal records,
and it made it easier for law enforcement and intelligence officials to share
information they obtained in their inquiries.
"The smoke was still coming out of the rubble in New York City when we
passed the law," Otter said. "I think there's a sense in Congress
now that maybe we moved too far too fast."
David Keene, chairman of the American Conservative Union, agreed.
"Among conservatives, more and more people are saying that the Patriot
Act oversteps the powers that government needs," Keene said. "The
mood in Congress has clearly changed since the law was passed after 9/11, and
I think the attorney general is trying to reverse that trend."