At a fundraising event in Kansas, former Attorney General John Ashcroft joined in the criticisms of the Department of Justice for its plans to hold the civilian trials of five suspected terrorists in New York City, saying that this decision shows that “the administration doesn’t appear to believe that we are in a war on terror.”
At an event for Rep. Todd Tiahrt (R-KS) last week, Ashcroft told reporters: “If your top priority is the liberty and life of American citizens and the security of their lives and liberty, then this decision is less than optimal.”
He continued: “I believe we are still in a very significant war on terror. The administration doesn’t appear to believe that we are in a war on terror.”
Ashcroft had previously told The Hill that Attorney General Eric Holder “doesn’t have the authority to mandate that the Secretary of Defense turn somebody over to him and yield jurisdiction so that something that would have been done in a military setting is done in a civilian setting.”
His comments join a chorus of right-wing criticism aimed at the Department of Justice decision. Most recently, Dick Cheney called the plan a “show trial.”
Ashcroft is also not the first official from the Bush DOJ to speak out about the trials. Jim Comey and Jack Goldsmith wrote a November 20 op-ed in The Washington Post defending Holder’s decision, writing that “if al-Qaeda could carry out another attack in New York, it would — a fact true a week ago and for a long time. Its inability to do so is a testament to our military, intelligence and law enforcement responses since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.”
Comey and Goldsmith also attacked critics of the trials, who they say
“do not help their case by understating the criminal justice system’s capacities, overstating the military system’s virtues and bumper-stickering a reasonable decision.”
