"John Ashcroft: American Fascist" by Will Pitt

[protect freedom impeach bush now]

John Ashcroft: American Fascist

By: William Rivers Pitt - 12/07/01


"No one can terrorize a whole nation, unless we are all his accomplices." - Edward R. Murrow


Attorney General John Ashcroft was called before Congress yesterday to give testimony regarding the unprecedented restrictions being placed upon the commonest of American liberties. With the passage of the PATRIOT Anti-Terror Bill, and through an Executive Order signed by Bush authorizing secret military tribunals for suspected terrorists, the latter of which was enacted with virtually no Congressional oversight despite the fact that it seems to violate the spirit, if not the letter of the Posse Comitatus Act, Ashcroft had some things to answer for.

From the beginning of his testimony, Ashcroft was defiant in the face of some skeptical Democratic Senators. He waved a copy of an Al Qaeda terrorism handbook in their faces as proof positive that no restriction of freedom was too severe when considering the enemy he seeks. In his opening remarks, Ashcroft made the following statement:

"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."

There is no plainer way to say it - this is rank demagoguery of a strain so pure that it has not been heard in the political dialogue of this nation since the dark days when Richard Nixon and Joseph McCarthy made careers out of shattering innocent lives during highly publicized anti-communist Congressional hearings in the 1950s.

In essence, John Ashcroft claims that if you question the unprecedented steps he and his Justice Department are taking, if you voice doubts about the concept of destroying freedom in order to save it, if you step out of the narrow line being drawn by he and Mr. Bush, you are a terrorist. If you dare to participate in that most fundamental American activity - dissent - you are aiding and abetting the murderous butchers who sent thousands of our citizens to death three months ago.

No more grave an accusation can be leveled in this time, and no more base and groundless a charge can be or has been spoken. It is one thing to sit for weeks and hold your tongue for fear of being called unpatriotic, as many patriotic Americans did in the aftermath of September 11th. It is another again to be called a terrorist for defending the sanctity of the United States Constitution from men who come for it with erasers and redacting tape.

Ashcroft claims that there are people who are scaring Americans with "phantoms of lost liberty." Let us examine some of these phantoms, and see if there is any flesh on the bone.

The First Amendment of the Constitution reads as follows: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

The idea that it was unpatriotic to question Bush in the aftermath of September 11th received wide play and acclimation in the media, and still does in many circles. This skirted the edges of free speech restrictions forbidden by the First Amendment. Ashcrofts proclamation of December 6th, that anyone who speaks out against his and Mr. Bush's plans, fairly defines the reason this Amendment was created in the first place.

Patriotic Americans will now fear to speak out against the government, the first fundamental responsibility of any citizen, for fear of an accusation that will taint them forever. It is intimidation in the raw of the first principle - the right to speak your mind, and to defy authority when it has gone awry.

The Fourth Amendment to the Constitution reads as follows: "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."

Section 213 of the PATRIOT Anti-Terrorism Bill is entitled 'Authority for Delaying Notice of the Execution of a Warrant.' Legal analysts have given this provision a snappier title: the "sneak and peek" section. Under 213, Federal officers can enter your home, search your belongings, and attach devices to your personal computer that record and broadcast back to them any and all keystrokes you make while online. They can do all of this without ever letting you know they were there.

Ostensibly, this provision is aimed at true-blue terrorists. We don't want them to know we're watching. After Ashcroft's performance of December 6th, however, any belief we may have that he or his department will restrain themselves from using this provision to police ordinary Americans must be shaken to the core. If you speak out against Ashcroft, you are a terrorist. The next logical step is that you will therefore be treated like one.

The Sixth Amendment to the Constitution reads as follows: "In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defense."

One of the main reasons Ashcroft was ordered to appear before Congress was because of Bush's recent Executive Order authorizing the use of secret military tribunals to try - and potentially order the execution of - anyone suspected of being a terrorist. This is troubling on its face - secret trials with secret evidence followed by secret judgments.

Read the Executive Order closely, however. The section entitled 'Definition and Policy' describes what manner of suspect would come before the tribunal:

"(a) The term 'individual subject to this order' shall mean any individual who is not a United States citizen with respect to whom I determine from time to time in writing that:

(1) there is reason to believe that such individual, at the relevant times,

(i) is or was a member of the organization known as al Qaida; (ii) has engaged in, aided or abetted, or conspired to commit, acts of international terrorism, or acts in preparation therefor, that have caused, threaten to cause, or have as their aim to cause, injury to or adverse effects on the United States, its citizens, national security, foreign policy, or economy; or (iii) has knowingly harbored one or more individuals described in subparagraphs (i) or (ii) of subsection 2(a)(1) of this order; and

(2) it is in the interest of the United States that such individual be subject to this order."

It is (2) that gives pause. There are some 20 million non-citizens occupying and working in this country right now. They could be arrested, detained, tried and convicted in secret if someone decides "it is in the interest of the United States." If John Ashcroft, whose idea of treason extends to questioning his highly questionable actions, is representative of the attitude being brought to this anti-terrorism endeavor, the precepts laid out in the Sixth Amendment have suddenly turned appallingly fragile.

One last thought: considering the lengths Ashcroft seems willing to go in order to stifle dissent, one wonders how difficult it would be to strip someone like you or I of our citizenship if we yell a bit too loudly. We would then be subject to (2) as well. If we have learned anything in the last three months, we have learned that the only thing sure to happen is the previously inconceivable.

The phantoms Mr. Ashcroft so arrogantly disparaged seem to have some significant substance, after all.

It comes to this: At the bottom, America is an idea, one represented and defended by the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the Amendments listed above. Destroy the idea and you have destroyed the nation. If we are to believe the hyperbole of the administration, those who attacked us on September 11th did so because they despise our freedoms. To destroy those freedoms in response to the attack is tantamount to surrender.

I am not ready to surrender. Are you? Is Ashcroft? Is Bush? If not, then there are other motives at work here. Power, after all, is always hungry and in search of more territory to annex. Thus has it always been, which is why those Amendments are so vital.

Fascism is defined as, "A system of government marked by centralization of authority under a dictator, stringent socioeconomic controls, suppression of the opposition through terror and censorship, and typically a policy of belligerent nationalism."

The only thing probable is the unimaginable now. This definition cuts too close to the bone. The time has come to stand up and say no to this slow evisceration of the idea that is America, to say no to men like Ashcroft who hold our essential freedoms in such contempt. Never forget that it was Ashcroft, in the earliest iteration of the Anti-Terrorism bill, who advocated the suspension of habeas corpus. If there is a beating heart within the body of laws that protect our freedoms, habeas corpus is it. That alone should be enough to rouse us all.

I intend to challenge, at every opportunity, the assertion by Mr. Ashcroft that dissention is equal to terrorism. I intend to continue my questioning of his contra-Constitutional program of restrictions until they are stopped. I beg you to do the same.

I offer you the opportunity to add your name and voice to this fight. Send me an email here, and I will place your name on a list to appear on this website. By giving me your name, you sign a document that states your opposition to Ashcroft's Constitutional revisions while denouncing him for daring to call you a terrorist. You are an American patriot. Stand up and be counted as one.

It is entirely possible that there will be trouble for you if you do this. Any fight for freedom has costs, and I cannot promise that you will not be made to pay for daring to speak your American mind here.

All I can promise is this: You will have done the right thing.

Stand up.

[rock]

1. Chilling

[loudnclear]

2. This definitely worth a kick!

So I am kicking it.