DOJ Lashes Out at Ashcroft Reports
Friday Dec. 7, 2001
WASHINGTON -- The Justice Department Friday lashed out at the media for their coverage this week of Attorney General John Ashcroft, who in turn had lashed out at his critics as "fear mongers" who "aid terrorists" during an appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee Thursday.
Ashcroft had not said that his critics were "aiding terrorists," but that "misstatements and misinformation" from his critics aid terrorists, a statement from DOJ spokeswoman Mindy Tucker said. Tucker said press coverage of Ashcroft's statements on Thursday mostly fell into the latter category.
"Ashcroft was very clear that he wanted public debate about the actions of the Justice Department," Tucker said in an e-mail to reporters. "What he does not think is helpful to the country is misstatements and the spread of misinformation about the actions of the Justice Department.
"Anyone who reported this morning that he criticized anyone who opposed him was absolutely wrong and in doing so became part of the exact problem he was describing."
Ashcroft Thursday faced a panel of Republicans and Democrats who expressed support for the administration's war on terrorism, but worried that Ashcroft might trample civil liberties in the process.
"The Department of Justice has sought to prevent terrorism with reason, careful balance and excruciating attention to detail," Ashcroft told the Judiciary Committee Thursday. "Some of our critics, I regret to say, have shown less affection for detail."
"We need honest, reasoned debate; not fear mongering," Ashcroft said. "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 administration has been under scrutiny by civil libertarians on the far right and far left -- as well as a worried Congress -- who fear that the administration might go too far.
During the hearing, Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., an outspoken critic of the administration's campaign to use immigration law to detain possible suspects, sought to clarify Ashcroft's statements.
"I would just like your assurance that you do not consider the hearings that we have been holding under the leadership of the chairman and the hearing today as in any way being too much on your back or in any way somehow aiding the terrorists by eroding national unity," Feingold told Ashcroft.
"I did indicate that we need reasoned discourse as opposed to fear mongering," Ashcroft responded. "This (Committee) is the place where reasoning and discourse take place."
Copyright 2001 by United Press International. All rights reserved. |
