John Ashcroft - John David Ashcroft is an American politician who was the 79th United States Attorney General. He served during the first term of President George W. Bush from 2001 until 2005.
Ashcroft was previously the Governor of Missouri (1985-1993) and a U.S. Senator from Missouri (1995-2001).
Joseph Pascal - Joseph Pascal is co-founder and president of the Hudson Union Society.
Pascal is from Long Island and received his M.B.A. at Oxford.
John Ashcroft joins the Hudson Union Society to share his views on the current political climate, the challenges he faced during his tenure as Attorney General and America's evolving legal landscape.
Ashcroft is one of the guys that made the eagle sore. He covered up statues with sheets, he went after Tommy Chong for bong sales, and now he's after the Doobie brothers.
"The Germans were fighting for their country. That's a noble thing ... "! That's an incredibly moronic thing to say for an AG! Fighting for your country against oppression, genocides, communist expansion, etc. is noble! Simply and blindly fighting for your country for a world domination intention is ... what was the word they used at Nuremberg ... Ah! WAR CRIME! i am speechless at this level of @%#^@ Bush-like they-hate-us-because-of-our-freedom head-in-ass comment! Just Incredible!
If he had a kalishnikov and was captured, then you now have a kalishnikov which, combined with a written statement, saves you from needing to take anyone off the field of battle.
The biggest problem is the $5000 bounty on al qaeda members, which just led organized crime rings to round up random innocent people, lie about them and run off into the night never to be seen again.
The interesting thing about this man's comments is his inherent bigotry - implicit in his glib little anecdote about the hoe and the "kalishnikov" is that the US serviceman will always be telling the truth, while the "enemy combatant" must be an evil terrorist who deserves to be detained indefinitely because the "war" Ashcroft speaks of is an indefinite one.
Quite frightening that this kind of thinking is acceptable now.
Legitimate concern aside, fighting for your country during WWII you are forgetting was not typically a choice afforded people whether they were German or American and the nobility he is referring is to answering the call of ones nation to preserve ones country, way of life, family, friends etc., regardless and your myopia is subjective to your own ignorance on your views of why wars are in fact fought. Moreover, bigot he may be but the Kalashnikov and the hoe are unfortunately the two most common thing one finds on Iraqi and Afghani battlefronts. His point here also, is not meant to portray soldiers are infallibly truthful but to say that but requiring them to leave the battlefield in order to testify against an enemy combatant who may well be of militant character is an action that poses dangerous consequences to our security as a whole in the region, as well as the ability to maintain stability. Even if one detainee is not in fact a militant, requiring soldiers to abandon their fellow serviceman, remove themselves from posts protecting civilians and their homes, and extending complete discretion to judicial function during a pernicious war is simply unacceptable. I am not condoning his broader ideology, I happen to disagree with it, however you must not insist on taking his comments out of context as it makes much pragmatic sense.
Soldiers just follow orders. Of course, there should be no trial for detainees-- there should just be release.
Ashcroft can only see his side. He believes that American POWS (like John McCain) should be released and not killed but our side in Guantomano should be tortured.
What about your son, Ashcroft? Do you want to see him tortured if his plane is shot down in Afghanistan? Maybe, tied and dragged naked behind a Jeep and lynched so that he doesn't get released and fly additional sorties.
Why is he "stunned"? What is wrong with the law that ordinary people abide by? He has such a low opinion of the public courts that he believes that these people (who are obviously terrorists or enemy combatants) will be set free.
It was the US. government that said they were detainees, not P.O.W.'s, that is why we are bogged down in judicial limbo. If as Mr. Ashcroft said they should not be given legal representation why didn't He designate them P.O.W.
Also they were not fighting for their country they were fighting for their beliefs, they had no state and no country. That was the reason they gave for not giving them P.O.W. status,
Now Mr. Ashcroft goes back on his decision.
Obviously the old hawks wanted a dirty fight were they could torture and abuse people to satisfy their sadistic nature.
Condoleeza Rice, George W. Bush, Donald Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney, and the whole upper echelon of the Bush era are war criminals, and an insult to the American moral principal, traitors to the American people who misled us, deceived us, and continue to try to twist the truth and the hearts of our good nation
--
H.F. Woodward
We as a nation should be so lucky as to see an eagle sore up John Ashcroft's ass. These bush quacks drive me nuts! I'm retired Navy and I don't want to see us prison people without the correct legal rights that they've done something criminal. How do we get an Attorney General that is a complete nut job? Most the posts on this site say it all, great job. Now lets change this country to STOP President Obama from following in the bush footsteps.