Ashcroft's Charm Offensive

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U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft recently launched a national campaign to dismiss growing criticism of the controversial USA Patriot Act, an anti-terrorism law passed after the September 11 attacks. Speaking at the right-wing American Enterprise Institute, Ashcroft said, "To abandon this tool would disconnect the dots, risk American lives and liberty, and reject Sept. 11th's lessons." The Department of Justice Patriot Act website is LifeandLiberty.gov. Ashcroft will take the life and liberty message to police and prosecutors in a dozen cities in the next few weeks. The Chicago Tribune reports the ACLU's Laura Murphy said that Ashcroft's effort was merely a "charm offensive" to "favorably spin policies violative of civil liberties." "Although the Department of Justice is understandably reluctant to admit it, the real significance of this road show is that it shows the Patriot Act is becoming a kitchen table issue," Murphy said.