American Conservative: article on Bush administration suppression of dissent.
http://www.amconmag.com/12_15_03/feature.html
December 15, 2003 issue
Copyright © 2003 The American Conservative
“Free-Speech Zone”
The administration quarantines dissent.
By James Bovard
On Dec. 6, 2001, Attorney General John Ashcroft
informed the Senate Judiciary Committee, “To
those who scare peace-loving people with phantoms
of lost liberty S your tactics only aid
terrorists, for they erode our national unity and
S give ammunition to America’s enemies.” Some
commentators feared that Ashcroft’s statement,
which was vetted beforehand by top lawyers at the
Justice Department, signaled that this White
House would take a far more hostile view towards
opponents than did recent presidents. And indeed,
some Bush administration policies indicate that
Ashcroft’s comment was not a mere throwaway line.
[…]