It's a good thing that U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft does not have a big ego. If he did, he would probably spend his days trying to change his reputation among liberals. He might point out that he was once a popular Governor or remind them that he used to be well-known for his support of term limits and role as the baritone voice of the beloved "Singing Senators."
It wouldn't matter. Liberals despise John Ashcroft. They cringe at the mention of his name and clench their fists when they see his picture. Some even rejoiced at the recent news that he was suffering from a serious form of gallstone pancreatitis.
Thankfully, Secretary Ashcroft has ignored the personal attacks thrown his way and worked tirelessly to perform the duties President Bush entrusted to him in 2001: fighting crime and protecting Americans from harm. And when Ashcroft is evaluated on that standard, he stands out as America's best Attorney General since Robert Kennedy.
To put it bluntly, Secretary Ashcroft has been kicking tail and taking names since Sept. 11. Last month, the Justice Department announced that three men from the Washington, D.C. area--Hammad Abdur-Raheem, Masoud Ahmad Khan, and Seifullah Chapman--had been convicted of violently conspiring against the United States on behalf of the Taliban and Lashkar-e-Taiba. When charged, the men claimed they were innocent victims of racism. But Ashcroft and the Justice Department compiled a case against them so strong that Clinton-appointed U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema labeled their defense "incredible" and "implausible."
The D.C. convictions followed a pattern. Since September 11, everyone Ashcroft has brought charges against has claimed innocence and garnered support from liberals across the country outraged with supposed "racial profiling." Yet each of the defendants has ended up being found guilty for heinous crimes once in court. Under Ashcroft's watch, the U.S. government has broken up terrorist cells across the country and prevented dozens of potential attacks against civilians.
Many liberals hysterically claim that Ashcroft has used the USA Patriot Act to establish a "Big-Brother"-style environment where government officials search through the library records of law-abiding Americans and eavesdrop on telephone conversations at whim. In reality, these frightening scenarios not only have not happened, but cannot happen under current U.S. law.
The Patriot Act has only one role in the Justice Department's agenda: combating terrorism. To that end, it only allows for the monitoring of wire, oral and electronic communications during investigations of "domestic terrorism." Section 802 defines "domestic terrorism" as conduct that both "violates federal or state criminal law" and "is dangerous to human life." This means that Americans who are not suspected of criminal wrongdoing that could result in the death of others are at no risk of having their records searched or their communication intercepted.
Even more importantly, the Patriot Act mandates that wiretaps and other devices used in investigations of domestic terrorism be approved by court order. Prior to its passage, law enforcement could conduct electronic surveillance via court order for many ordinary, non-terrorist crimes like passport fraud, drug dealing and mail fraud. Contrary to the conventional wisdom that it has ushered in a new era of government authority, the Patriot Act's primary effect has actually been a leveling of the playing field, as terrorism investigators now have access to the same tools that criminal investigators have used for decades.
Secretary Ashcroft's agenda involves more than anti-terrorism. His department has also brought justice to many of the corporate criminals who lied and cheated their ways to wealth at the expense of others during the 1990s.
In the past three years, the Justice Department has convicted Enron CFO Andrew Fastow and CEO Jeff Kiling, and is ensuring that Kenneth Lay will meet their same fate. It has also convicted officials at WorldCom, ImClone,and Enron's bogus auditor: the Arthur Anderson firm.
Were Secretary Ashcroft not using his authority to bring down corporate law-breakers and terrorists, he would be blasted by the left for not doing enough. Instead, those who dislike him for being conservative, Christian and "anti-choice" scoff at all of his department's accomplishments and demonize him for furthering an "agenda" and "violating civil liberties."
Simply put, John Ashcroft is a boogeyman for liberals and an undeserved target for the rage, anger, and bitterness they have held since 2000. They have a lot of cruel words for their Attorney General, but if they evaluated him on his record instead of his ideology, they would realize that the two words that he most deserves to hear are "thank" and "you."
Nathan Carleton is a Trinity junior. His column appears every other Monday.
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