Ashcroft talks about leadership, liberty

U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft shared his views on leadership, freedom and the war on terror Friday evening at the annual Blue Key Banquet in the Reitz Union ballroom.

A leading figure in the Bush administration - and a controversial one with civil liberties groups - Ashcroft drew dozens of sign-waving protesters prior to his speech and got a standing ovation afterwards from several hundred invited guests.

"I think it's a terrific commentary on the University of Florida that they would be able to get someone like this," said Frederick Leonhardt, an Orlando attorney.

"I also think the head of Florida Blue Key must be a Republican," he added with a laugh.

In a 25-minute speech, Ashcroft first spoke of leadership as a concept and then applied the definitions to the actions of the Bush administration since Sept. 11.

He joked that in Washington, D.C., politicians are adept at what he called "poll vaulting," figuring out which direction people are headed anyway, getting there ahead of them and calling it leadership.

"Leadership works best when an individual identifies a goal and pursues it with such courage, intensity and sacrifice that it draws others to the endeavor.

"It's not like the guy who will fight to the last drop of someone else's blood and call themselves a leader," he added. "It's the Pattons of the Army, who were willing to stand at the front of the line and carry the battle."

More concretely, Ashcroft defended Bush administration policies that have come under fire - including the new doctrine of waging pre-emptive war on countries the administration thinks will pose a danger to the United States in the future.

'I'm delighted to serve a president who's not content to respond to terror by virtue of saying `Well, when it happens, this is what we'll do and this is how we'll accommodate it,' " Ashcroft said.

He said in recent years the United States hasn't done enough to prevent the training of terrorists in the Middle East.

"You know, there's a parenting adage: . . . When you give a child no boundaries and give him a hammer, everything in the world becomes a nail.

"We live in a time when the world is full of terrorists running around with hammers.

"That time ended, though, two years ago, half a world away in Afghanistan."

Ashcroft gave an upbeat review to the U.S. pursuit of al-Qaeda, but also a warning.

"The terrorists are on the run, their knights are in retreat, their resources are dwindling," he said. "Only their hatred and lust for revenge is on the rise."

He also spoke in defense of the Patriot Act, which was passed weeks after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11. The law, which gives police wider investigative and prosecutorial powers, has come under attack from civil libertarians on both the left and right.

From their hand-lettered signs, it seemed the Patriot Act inspired most of the protesters who marched from the corner of University Avenue and NW 13th Street to the Reitz Union.

Police estimated there were about 60 protesters, while the protesters themselves put the number at twice that. They spanned all ages, though most were UF students.

"Ashcroft's policies are a direct attack on the Bill of Rights and the most basic foundation of our country and a lot of people are extremely (angry) about that," Adam Robinson, a graduate student in engineering, said.

Ashcroft's address was, for the most part, somber. But there were a few moments of levity, including a joke he told about the kindergartner who was on the field trip to a police station and asked 'Who are the men in the posters on the wall?'

The police chief told him the men were very bad people and the police were looking for them everywhere.

"Little fella said, `Why didn't you keep 'em when you were taking their pictures?' " Ashcroft said. "Out of the mouths of babes."

Carrie Miller can be reached at 338-3103 or millerc@gvillesun.com.