Act called vital tool in war on terror

The USA Patriot Act is an overdue piece of legislation that is closing holes in the country's ability to fight acts of aggression against its citizens, U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft said Monday.

Ashcroft stopped in Salt Lake City as part of his nationwide tour promoting the Patriot Act, anti-terrorism legislation passed shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. In part, the monthlong campaign aims to counter criticism that the legislation erodes basic civil liberties and constitutional rights.

Ashcroft praised his audience of nearly 300 uniformed law enforcement personnel as those with their "feet on the street" in the fight against terrorism.

"Thanks to you, we are preserving lives, liberty and the rule of law. Thanks to you, we are winning the war on terror," he said.

As the attorney general trumpeted the Patriot Act inside the Little America Hotel, an estimated 150 protesters gathered outside to picket the legislation.

"I object strenuously to the kinds of laws passed since 9/11," Salt Lake City resident Marcus Smith said while marching around the hotel. "They're turning citizens into criminals."

Several signs linked Ashcroft and the Patriot Act with Nazi Germany, with one man substituting a swastika for the "s" in the attorney general's last name. Another accused him of being "a mustache away from Hitler."

In defending the act, Ashcroft said it has made possible the convictions of American Taliban John Walker Lindh, shoe bomber Richard Reid and, most recently, the arrest of an alleged arms dealer from Britain who allegedly planned to sell shoulder-fire missiles to terrorists.

The protection of Americans' life and liberty from additional terrorist attacks has become "the cause of our time," Ashcroft said.

After Ashcroft's 28-minute speech, Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff and Department of Public Safety Commissioner Robert Flowers said they believe Utahns are safer today because of the Patriot Act.

Prior to its passage, restrictions in law prevented some information — such as matters of national security — from being shared between federal agencies such as the FBI and state and local law enforcement, Flowers said.

"Even during the Olympics there was law that kept us from getting information," he said.