Ashcroft wants tougher anti-terror laws

WASHINGTON — Attorney General John Ashcroft urged Congress on Thursday to expand the new anti-terror law to permit the government to hold more suspects indefinitely and extend the death penalty to more people accused of terrorist crimes.

He also said the current anti-terror law, which critics say is cramping citizens' legitimate rights, needs to be expanded to let prosecutors bring charges against anyone who helps or works with suspected terrorist groups as "material supporters."

Ashcroft held aloft what he said were copies of terrorist declarations of war against America. One quoted Nasser al-Fahd, a prominent Muslim cleric known to be sympathetic to al-Qaida, as saying it would be permissible if a bomb killed 10 million Americans.

Ashcroft also read aloud the names of people killed in the Sept. 11 attacks as he defended the Justice Department's use so far of anti-terrorism powers.

The USA Patriot Act has led to more than 3,000 "footsoldiers of terror" being stopped, Ashcroft said. But he also told the House Judiciary Committee the law "has several weaknesses which terrorists could exploit, undermining our defenses."

The death penalty provision would allow for executions in cases where a terrorist caused "massive loss of life" by attacking a military base, nuclear plant or energy plant, the Justice Department said.

Ashcroft also said some courts have said that "going and taking training, and joining up with" terrorist groups abroad could not be prosecuted under the current material support statute, and he wants that fixed.

"We need for the law to make it clear that it's just as much a conspiracy to aid and assist the terrorists, to join them for fighting purposes, as it is to carry them a lunch or to provide them with a weapon," the attorney general said.

In addition, federal suspects in gun, drug and organized crime cases "where public safety is a concern" automatically are held indefinitely when they are arrested, Ashcroft said. "It seems as though the crime of terrorism should have the same presumption," he said.

It was unclear whether the Bush administration would request any legislative proposals before the end of the congressional session.

House Democrats, meanwhile, complained about the way the Justice Department has used its current anti-terrorism powers, especially considering a department inspector general report Tuesday that criticized the government's treatment of illegal immigrants held after the attacks.