WP: Amid Praise, Doubts About Nominee's Post-9/11 Role

Monday, January 31, 2005; Page A01

On Nov. 28, 2001, then-Assistant Attorney General Michael Chertoff took a seat before a Senate committee and offered reassurance on two fronts: The Justice Department was unrelenting in pursuit of terrorists. And none of its tactics had trampled the Constitution or federal law.

Every detainee has been charged, Chertoff told the senators. Every detainee has a lawyer. No one is held incommunicado.

"Are we being aggressive and hard-nosed? You bet." Chertoff leaned into the microphone. "But let me emphasize that every step that we have taken satisfies the Constitution and federal law as it existed both before and after September 11th."

It was classic Chertoff, eloquent and unyielding and intense, his body coiled like a middleweight boxer's. He returned again and again to his bottom line: The World Trade Center and a portion of the Pentagon were in ruins; two letters had arrived at the Senate laden with billions of anthrax microbes. Osama bin Laden had declared war on the United States -- what would you have us do?

Few questioned Chertoff's urgency, but his critics contend that he was not candid with the senators, and was perhaps misleading about the nature of the tactics he pursued. The Justice Department ordered the detention of more than 700 Arab and South Asian men for immigration violations, holding them without charges or access to lawyers for an average of three months. Many remained in prison much longer, according to a 2003 report by Justice Department Inspector General Glenn A. Fine.

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the Republican party.

:kick:

and voted against. It looks like that may happen.

Democrats are expected to sharply question Chertoff's decision to order the detention of immigrants -- not one of whom was charged with a terrorism-related crime. A number of these immigrants were beaten and humiliated by prison officers.

They also are expected to scrutinize Chertoff's role in crafting the USA Patriot Act.