Ashcroft defends the Patriot Act

By Tillie Fong, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Dennis Schroeder / The Rocky

John Ashcroft reacts to protesters. The former U.S. attorney general spoke on national security following the Sept. 11 attacks.

Dennis Schroeder / The Rocky

Two of about 10 blindfolded and gagged protesters turn their backs on Ashcroft, who was speaking Tuesday at the University of Colorado's Macky Auditorium.

Former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft on Tuesday night defended the need for the USA Patriot Act, saying that since Sept. 11, 2001, there has been a new "paradigm of peril."

"The old type of systems allowed to happen to us what happened to us on 9/11," he said.

Ashcroft spoke to more than 800 students and community members at Macky Auditorium Tuesday night at the University of Colorado.

Members of Students for Peace and Justice staged a silent protest at Ashcroft's speech, and a number of people heckled Ashcroft, sometimes snorting in derision, at other times shouting challenges. In many cases, the heckler was escorted out of the auditorium by student ushers.

Ashcroft talked about the events that led to the Patriot Act. The day after 9/11, "the president said, 'Do not let this happen again,' " Ashcroft said.

"Let's look at the law and see what we can do that would help us. We need to think differently, think outside the box . . . never think outside the Constitution."

When that comment was met with boos, Ashcroft responded: "Whooping and hollering in an auditorium will not get that done."

Ashcroft said that the Patriot Act "makes perfect sense."

This is the kind of thing that we have lived comfortably with in fighting organized crime and drug dealers. We hadn't understood the need . . . to fight against terror."

Ashcroft also responded to questions from the audience. The first question came from a woman who asked if Ashcroft would be willing to be subjected to waterboarding.

"The things that I can survive, if it were necessary to do them to me, I would do," he said.

Ashcroft was also asked if he knew during his tenure about abuse in Abu Ghraib prison. "How was I to know what was happening in a prison in Iraq?" he said. "The Justice Department does not run prisons in foreign lands."

However, he apologized for what did occur there. "I'm sorry about Abu Ghraib - it was hurting the United States," he said.

Ashcroft also defended the incarceration of enemy combatants at Guantanamo Bay. "Yes, it's a good place for them," he said. "You detain people you don't want to enter the stream of battle. It's a new kind of battle: They don't wear uniforms; they attack civilians."

His speech was sponsored by the Cultural Events Board.

• November 28, 2007

  1 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  Teiresias writes:

  "the president said, 'Do not let this happen again,' " Ashcroft said.
  Maybe on the day BEFORE 9-11 Bush should have said "don't let this happen." If Ashcroft is so gung-ho about waterboarding, perhaps we should use it on him to find out what he really knows about the war crimes committed under his tenure.

• November 28, 2007

  1:33 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  Diff writes:

  The Patriot Act and to a larger degree the thinking of those who most strongly support it; Scares the hell out of me!
  I want to live in a free society, not some Conservative run, police state.
  Lets recall the constitution, remember and honor it's ideals. A democratic republic must have and maintain respect, and tolerance for all groups and each individul while protecting any minority group from the harm of a harsh majority.
  That is and has been a major test for and of our constitution for it's life and I hope it remains so!
  Someone the other day was suggesting we use the patriot act and change it to include gang members so we can deal with the gang violence in Denver. That is the kind of thinking and the first next steps to a country and government that I could no longer support or even
  tolerate! Let's wake up and save the USA and our constitutions original intent!
  The time is now to repeal the Patriot Act and use other laws (that respect all of our rights) to protect our country!

• November 28, 2007

  9:19 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  onebrownmouse writes:

  To see what really happened before and after the war criminal spoke watch the video. You will love it. http://www.vflog.com