attorney general john ashcroft for help he's been hired as an independent ethics advisor for the services firm a salary a good idea right after all the negative stories i think this company could use an ethics the visor. maybe even ten of them but let's also pause to look at who is that they've chosen to do the job john ashcroft is really the guy of you want to help you with your ethics let's take a look to ask ross file as attorney general during president george w. bush's first term in office in two thousand and two the justice department advised the white house of the torture of al qaeda terrorist suspects might be legal if asked ross was called to testify before congress about those than us but he refused requests to make the memos public and wouldn't discuss any possible involvement by the president to a rather lively exchange between ashcroft and the late senator ted kennedy. cheney where ninety thousand two signed by john you know you august two thousand and two justice department. amendment. memo and the march two thousand for the working group those are three memoranda where you

but let's also close to look at who is that they've chosen to do the job john ashcroft is really the guy that you want to help you with your ethics let's take a look to ask ross file as attorney general during president george w. bush's first term in office in two thousand and two the justice department advised the white house of the torture of al qaeda terrorist suspects might be illegal ashcroft was called to testify before congress about those minutes but he refused requests to make the memos public and wouldn't discuss any possible involvement by the president which led to a rather lively exchange between ashcroft and the late senator ted kennedy. january ninth two thousand true signed by john you know you all just two thousand chief justice department and the. amendment. memo and the march two thousand troop. working group those are three number where you provide those to the committee. no i will not. basis. on which bases on the basis the long standing established reasons for providing opinions provided the executive branch. now ashcroft also propose that the best of security e

supreme court ruled that former attorney general john ashcroft cannot be sued over a post 9/11 arrestion was 8-0. again, the major developments of the day: a key survey showed home prices in major u.s. cities have hit the lowest levels in five years; and to kwame holman for what's on the newshour online. kwame. >> holman: the newshour's web site is back up and running following yesterday's hacking incidents. we apologize for any inconvenience. all that and more is on our web site, newshour.pbs.org. gwen. >> ifill: and that's the newshour for tonight. on wednesday, we'll look at computer sabotage as a fact of life in this wired world. i'm gwen ifill. >> woodruff: and i'm judy woodruff. we'll see you online and again here tomorrow evening. thank you and good night. major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> okay, listen. somebody has got to get serious. >> i think... >> we need renewable energy. >> ...renewable energy is vital to our planet. >> you hear about alternatives, right? wind, solar, algae. >> i think it's got to work on a big scale. and i think it's got to be

in 2000 you helped elect president bush, who appointed attorney general john ashcroft who changed the government's position by clearly stating in a letter to the national rifle association that the second amendment is our individual right. but that was just the beginning. in 2004, by keeping john kerry out of the white house, your votes put two new pro-freedom justices on the u.s. supreme court. add decades of your n.r.a.'s legislative victories, decades of n.r.a. scholarly work and decades of n.r.a. success in the legal arena and that, ladies and gentlemen, snowballed into our next word -- historic. historic means something has great and lasting importance. the recent heller and mcdonald decisions absolutely live up to that definition. folks, when it takes a country 200 years to recognize one of the freedoms in its bill of rights, that's historic. but they were historic but our freedom is not secure. because both of these cases were decided by a razor thin majority of just one vote. just one vote. it's just one justice -- if just one justice had voted the other way our right to keep

now just ahead tonight to let into this defense contracting firm hired john ashcroft to be their ethics advisor find out tonight's tool time segment and then the justice department takes on medicinal marijuana laws across the country so why is the government down a one eight on this.

now just ahead tonight what infamous defense contracting firm hired john ashcroft to be there i think the visor it's a nice tool time segments and then the justice department takes on medicinal marijuana laws across the country so why does the government on a one eighty on this contentious issue.

they are prudish and i think if they had john ashcroft as a foreign minister they would have draped her something. she is there on the clouds, arms outstretched and on the other side of the mural is a black lash brown, yellow and red person holding trays of their wealth and gifted treasures all for victoria is the logo. that was the sense we had of our history and our world. the rest of the world did not count. they played no role at all. when they did play a role, it was china, marco polo discovered china. it was a mosque. he did not discover. the trade routes have been opened for hundreds of years before marco polo and it was the mongols who began moving civilization is to and west and then columbus opened america and discovered it. again, not lost but the wealth of the treasures. if you think about it what were the italians eating before china and mexico came onto the scene? certainly spaghetti was not on the menu. the fact is that most of the cuisine that exists in southern europe, the mediterranean regions in central europe central europe comes from this mix of worlds that contribu

in 2000 you helped elect president bush who appointed attorney general john ashcroft who changed the by clearly stating in a letter to the national rifle association that the second amendment is our individual right. but that was just the beginning. in 2004 by keeping john kerry out of the white house, your votes put two new pro-freedom justices on the u.s. supreme court. add decades of your nra's legislative victories, decades of nra's scholarly work and decades of nra's success in the legal arena and that, ladies and gentlemen, snowballed into our next word: historic. historic means something has great and lasting importance. the recent heller and mcdonald decisions absolutely live up to that definition. folks, when it takes a country 200 years to recognize one of the freedoms in its bill of rights, that's historic. but they were historic, but our freedom's not secure. because both of these cases were decided by a razor-thin majority of just one vote. if just one justice had voted the other way, our right to keep and bear arms would be gone. but that's not the only danger we face.

the third i wanted to make is both former attorney general john ashcroft and general colin powell hadcord as saying they have no problem with providing the kind of flexibility that in their opinion makes military commissions stronger, not weaker but stronger. it provides in their mind and appropriate and legitimate alternative which to me, that is really the bottom line. it is not about providing a more restrict the environment in which they go after these terrorists, the worst of the worst or least of the worst or whatever kinds of terrorist. a terrorist attack against this country is an attack against all of us and we need to have those kinds of options and that kind of flexibility. that is why i hope that we support mr. smith's amendment and who was asking to yield? >> yes, please. we keep hearing the number of foreign to people who have been prosecuted, 300 our jails. this is apples and oranges we are talking about here. we did not have 700 people in jail, 400 convicted and 300 waiting in the united states who were captured outside of the united states and brought into the united

2002, after 9/11, not long,e, he wrote an op-ed, publisher, criticizing the then attorney general john ashcroft decision to try the 9/11 terrorists and military commissions. they researched law.ener attorney-galeneral ashcroft knew what he wwas doing. they decided they were going toy try these individuals in the military commissions.earing -- but he had written an op-edattol attacking the attorney general for it. so now we got nominee for the attorney deputy general of the t united states. at his hearing last congress,epe mr. kohl repeated thatan prevailing in the confusing justice department provisions that the decisions regarding where the captured terrorist should be tried in civilian srrists courts or before militarycilianc commissions, quote, should be made on a case by case basis o based on all the relevant facts and circumstances available aten the time of a suspect's capture. it's going to happen in yemen?hr afghanistan, pakistan, wherever else it may be in the unitedit'n states. it's not a practical policy because you have to tell the individuals who are making the e ttprehension with

2002, after 9/11, not long, he wrote an op-ed, published it, criticizing then-attorney general john ashcroft's decision to try the 9/11 terrorists in military commissions. they researched the law. attorney general ashcroft knew what he was doing. they decided they were going to try these individuals by military commissions. at his hearing -- but he had written an op-ed attacking the attorney general for it, so now that's the man we have got to nominate for deputy attorney general of the united states. at his hearing last congress, mr. cole repeated a prevailing and confusing justice department position that decisions regarding whether captive terrorists should be tried in civilian courts or in military commissions -- quote -- should be made on a case-by-case basis based on all the relevant facts and circumstances available at a time of a suspect's capture." close quote. is this going to happen in yemen? afghanistan, pakistan, wherever else they may be? in the united states? it's not a practical policy, because you have to tell the individuals who are making the apprehension what the rules are.

the third i wanted to make is both former attorney general john ashcroft and general colin powell hadcord as saying they have no problem with providing the kind of flexibility that in their opinion makes military commissions stronger, not weaker but stronger. it provides in their mind and appropriate and legitimate alternative which to me, that is really the bottom line. it is not about providing a more restrict the environment in which they go after these terrorists, te worst ofhe worst or least of the worst or whatever kinds of terrorist. a terrorist attack against this country is an attack against all of us and we need to have those kinds of options and that kind of flexibility. that is why i hope that we support mr. smith's amendment and who was asking to yield? >> yes, please. we keep hearing the number of foreign to people who have been prosecuted, 300 our jails. this is apples andoranges we are talking about here. we did not have 700 people in jail, 400 convicted and 300 waiting in the united states who were captured outside of the united states and ought into the united states

2002, after 9/11, not long, he wrote an op-ed, published it, criticizing then-attorney general john ashcroft's decision to try the 9/11 terrorists in military commissions. they researched the law. attorney general ashcroft knew what he was doing. they decided they were going to try these individuals by military commissions. at his hearing -- but he had written an op-ed attacking the attorney general for it, so now that's the man we have got to nominate for deputy attorney general of the united states. at his hearing last congress, mr. cole repeated a prevailing and confusing justice department position that decisions regarding whether captive terrorists should be tried in civilian courts or in military commissions -- quote -- should be made on a case-by-case basis based on all the relevant facts and circumstances available at a time of a suspect's capture." close quote. is this going to happen in yemen? afghanistan, pakistan, wherever else they may be? in the united states? it's not a practical policy, because you have to tell the individuals who are making the apprehension what the rules are.