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JOHN ASHCROFT'S HOLY WAR BY
TIM PATTERSON To hear John Ashcroft tell it, he was appointed attorney general by God, not George Bush. An ultra-conservative with the explicit goal of "changing the infrastructure of America," Ashcroft wrote in 1986: "The ancient kings of Israel, David and Saul were anointed as they undertook their administrative duties, as were some leaders in the early church...Accordingly, I was anointed prior to each of my terms as governor [of Missouri]." No wonder Ashcroft has attempted since Sept. 11 to remake the Constitution in his fundamentalist Christian image. His agenda includes military tribunals with radically altered rules of evidence, thousands of secret detentions of "suspicious" Middle Eastern nationals and a dramatic expansion of wiretap authority. It also includes the most far-reaching gag order in First Amendment history. A provision of the USA Patriot Act prevents the press from reporting on the FBI's seizure of the lists of books bought in bookstores or borrowed from libraries by noncitizens and citizens who are "suspected" of terrorist activities. Ashcroft has also undermined gun control laws, reversing 60 years of federal policy. He has led the administration's retreat from enforcement of civil rights laws and its attacks on immigrants. And he once declared: "If I had the opportunity to pass but a single law, I would fully recognize the constitutional right to life of every unborn child." Ashcroft wraps himself in the banner of patriotism. But his models are some of the worst racists and reactionaries in American history. In 1998 he told the Southern Partisan, a notorious defender of the slave Confederacy, "Your magazine also helps set the record straight. You've got a heritage of defending Southern patriots like [Robert E.] Lee, [Stonewall] Jackson and [Jefferson] Davis…I've got to do more." During Senate Judiciary Committee hearings late last year, Ashcroft opened his testimony with a preemptive attack on anyone concerned about the loss of civil liberties: "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." The handful of Senators who had previously offered mild criticism fell silent for the rest of the hearing. Defeated
in his Senatorial bid in 2000, Ashcroft may have viewed his attorney general
appointment as another godsend. But not everyone agrees that John Ashcroft's
latest political resurrection is an act of God. For millions, it's a cross
we have to bear until we can bring his holy war to an end. |
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