Phantom fears: Attorney General's bluster is cause for concern.

• Author: Schwab, Robert
• Position: Rschwab@cobizmag.com - Brief Article

Is U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL JOHN ASHCROFT CRAZY?

I hesitated to ask that question in print this month because the symptom of craziness that brought the question to my mind occurred way back in November.

On Nov. 6, Ashcroft ordered Drug Enforcement Administration cops to start revoking medical licenses of Oregon doctors who legally prescribed lethal drugs to terminally ill people who wanted to die.

Oregon voters had approved that law, and it took effect in 1997, long before Ashcroft succeeded Janet Reno at the justice Department.

The chief federal law officer's attack on Oregon's voters came as a complete surprise, and within days, a federal judge intervened and told Ashcroft and the DEA to back off. Now, it will be months before a trial decides whether the U.S. attorney general actually has the power to abrogate a decision of a state's voters.

And that seemed to settle me down.

But a month later, Ashcroft went off again.

Perhaps you saw the news accounts. Waving a book that he said was a manual of terrorist threats against Americans, Ashcroft ranted before the Senate Judiciary Committee that critics of the Bush administration's war policies were aiding the enemy.

"To those who scare peace-loving people with phantoms of lost liberty, my message is this," Ashcroft said: "Your tactics only aid terrorists, for they erode our national unity and diminish our resolve. They give ammunition to America's enemies, and pause to America's friends."

Nonsense. And thank heaven for the holidays.

Perhaps a...