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Ashcroft defends DOJ's handling of detaineesCritics say terror law violates civil liberties
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Attorney General John Ashcroft defended his department Thursday, responding publicly for the first time to a report from the Justice Department's inspector general that strongly criticized the handling of detainees after the September 11, 2001 attacks. In testimony before the House Judiciary Committee, Ashcroft also asked Congress for expanded powers in dealing with suspected terrorists, even as some lawmakers questioned how a new anti-terrorism law is being applied. Ashcroft was called to task -- at times even excoriated -- by lawmakers who took issue with what the report described as the incarceration of illegal immigrants with no proven links to terrorism for as long as 200 days, deportations of more than 500 of them, and mistreatment of prisoners. Ashcroft staunchly defended his department, but said that any claims of abuse would be investigated. "We don't tolerate violence in holding individuals," he said. "That's not a policy of the department. And in those situations we'll seek to correct those situations." Justice Department policies, he said, were aimed at protecting "the national interest." "God forbid, if we ever have to do this again we hope we can clear people more quickly," Ashcroft said, adding that the United States has "no interest whatsoever" in holding innocent people. Broader powersHe called on the committee to allow his department broader powers to fight terrorism by expanding the USA Patriot Act, which some have criticized as an assault on civil liberties. The law, enacted after the September 11, 2001 attacks to help crack down on terrorist organizations and those who support them, "has several weaknesses which terrorists could exploit, undermining our defenses," he said. Ashcroft asked for new authority to hold suspected terrorists indefinitely before trials and to let him seek the death penalty or life imprisonment for any terrorist act which kills Americans. He also wanted to ensure that individuals who train with a terrorist organization can be more easily charged with a crime. These provisions could be part of a proposal by the Justice Department for a so-called Patriot Act II. Justice Department officials have not said when they would unveil their proposed bill; an internal draft, calling for, among other things, more authority to conduct wiretaps, was leaked several months ago. Democrats on the highly partisan committee directed stinging criticism at Ashcroft Thursday, while some Republicans praised him.
Lawmakers cited the inspector general's report, which looked at the experience of 762 illegal immigrants detained and held on immigration-related charges in connection with the investigation into the September 11 attacks over a period of 11 months after they occurred. Rep. Maxine Waters, D-California, asked Ashcroft about the more than 500 who were deported. "We are concerned about the way you have used your power," she said. "Isn't it a fact that after you rounded up these individuals you found that they had no involvement with terrorist activities, but found a problem with their immigration status that provided you a simple legal basis to deport them?" Ashcroft responded that some of the deportees "are individuals who had strong links to the terrorists, [but] against whom we did not have a case that was sufficient to bring criminal charges, or about whom the bringing of the case might result in the revelation of material in court which would be against the national security interests of the United States." One deportee was a roommate of one of the September 11 hijackers and the friend of another, he said.
"We made a judgment that it was in the best interest of the United States of America that that individual not remain in the United States, that that individual be deported," he said. Another deportee had a flight manual and pilot's credentials, while a third had "30 or more pictures of the twin towers of New York and jihad materials." Despite Waters' insistence, Ashcroft did not say how many of the deportees had no known links at all to terrorists. He emphasized that all were illegal immigrants and that the department has in the past been criticized by the inspector general for releasing illegal immigrants with simply a deportation order, and without ensuring that they actually leave the country -- something his department made sure to do with the post-September 11 detainees. "We could not afford ... to let those individuals be back in the public so they could merge back into the American culture," he said. Rep. William Delahunt, D-Massachusetts, accused Ashcroft of pursuing unprecedented power for his department and purposely withholding information on various issues, including the war on terrorism. "No modern prosecutor in modern history has been granted as much power as you now hold," he said. The solution to facing down terrorists "is not for us to become zealots ourselves so that we remake our society in the image of those that would attack us." Ashcroft rejected Delahunt's assertions, insisting that information is withheld only when it is in the national interest, and that it is not the role of the attorney general to "change the law." At times during Ashcroft's answers, Democrats sought to indicate that he was not answering parts of their questions. Committee Chair James Sensenbrenner, R-Wisconsin, interrupted them, saying their attempts to speak were out of order. Ashcroft several times read names of U.S. citizens killed in attacks launched by Islamic terrorist organizations, which he called reminders of why the fight against terrorism is important. The American Civil Liberties Union said Congress ought to think twice before granting the Justice Department any new powers. "Before the Congress gives the Justice Department new powers, the Justice Department needs to justify what it has done with the powers that Congress gave (it) in October 2001," said Laura Murphy, director of the Washington office of the ACLU. --CNN Justice Department Correspondent Kelli Arena contributed to this report.
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We must make it crystal clear that those who train for, and fight with, a designated terrorist organization can be charged under the material support statutes. 
