Word: ashcroft
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Democratic politician from New England would raise hell. But what was perhaps not as predictable is that protest would come from a conservative stalwart like Utah Senator Orrin Hatch. Earlier this month he joined Senate Judiciary chairman Patrick Leahy of Vermont in writing a letter to Attorney General John Ashcroft to express concern over the covert roundup of mostly immigrants suspected of being connected to the terrorist attacks. Since then, Leahy has repeatedly asked the Attorney General to release the number and names of detainees...
...Ashcroft is not budging. His office told Congress it would continue to withhold the names of detainees, saying to do otherwise would compromise their privacy and potentially hamper the investigation. But it is also possible that Justice officials are as confused as everyone else about a definitive list. On Nov. 1 the department reported that from Sept. 11 to that date, 1,147 people had been detained nationwide. But at a briefing a few days later, Ashcroft spokeswoman Mindy Tucker said that senior department officials were not happy with the way the totals were being calculated. For one thing...
...anymore. Police officers have been under incredible stress since September 11th. They're helping the FBI track down leads, possible accomplices and more information on the 19 hijackers. At the same time they're ratcheting up security and are on constant alert for possible future threats. And now John Ashcroft would like them to go door to door asking 5,000 Middle Eastern and Pakistani men who arrived here in the past two years, "Are you a terrorist...
...Since Ashcroft issued his November 9th memo asking local police to help U.S. attorneys and the FBI question these 5,000 men, police chiefs have had to decide whether they want to help. The request puts them in a difficult position. Many are responsible for communities with sizable Middle Eastern populations. The police?s relationship with that community makes a big difference. Local cops have to interact with the community daily - they depend on them for tips, information and cooperation...
...Wilson and other chiefs' efforts to compromise with the feds is the best hope for locals to make the process as painless as possible. If Ashcroft and Justice insist on these interviews, cops should work with them and try to limit the damage. The feds have shown an increasing willingness to work with local police. "The interaction between federal authorities and local police has improved since September 11th," says Chuck Wexler, executive director of the Police Executive Research Forum. Wexler credits a lot of that to FBI Director Robert Mueller. After some initial heavyhandedness by the feds, Mueller has worked...