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Editorials
Tuesday, December 26, 2000Ashcroft nomination
could mean troubleThe issue: President-elect George W. Bush has picked Missouri Sen. John Ashcroft as attorney general.
JOHN Ashcroft will probably turn out to be George W. Bush's most controversial appointment. Nominated for attorney general, Ashcroft is a religious conservative with strong views on abortion, the death penalty and government aid to faith-based organizations.
Having won election as president by such a narrow margin and with Congress split down the middle, Bush has taken a conciliatory course with his appointments of such moderates as Gen. Colin Powell as secretary of state and New Jersey Gov. Christie Whitman as head of the Environmental Protection Agency.
Conservatives complained that their interests were not being represented in the team to lead the Bush administration. Ashcroft's nomination clearly delighted them. But it could turn out to be a costly mistake.
The son and grandson of Assembly of God ministers, Ashcroft served two terms as governor of Missouri before his election to the Senate in 1994, where he established a record as a conservative activist. Ashcroft narrowly lost a bid for re-election in November to Gov. Mel Carnahan, whose name remained on the ballot after he died in a plane crash.
Abortion rights advocates are concerned that Ashcroft, as attorney general, might be reluctant to enforce the law that provides safe passage in and out of abortion clinics. In addition, the Justice Department under Ashcroft might argue against abortion rights in cases challenging the Roe vs. Wade decision.
Ashcroft could be expected to seek longer sentences for drug dealers and other criminals. He has opposed federal gun-control legislation and sponsored a program allowing states to provide services through religious groups.
Ashcroft opposed the appointment of Bill Lann Lee, a Chinese American, to head the civil rights division at the Justice Department. He led a campaign to block the appointment of Ronnie White, the first black to serve on the Missouri Supreme Court, as a federal judge, claiming that White was "soft" on the death penalty.
Bush's appointment of Ashcroft was described as "deeply troubling" by Wade Henderson, executive director of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights.
Kate Michelman, president of the abortion-rights organization NARAL, said the appointment reveals Bush's "determination to use the powers of the presidency to end legal abortion."
The president-elect presumably hopes that the Senate will extend the usual courtesies to a former colleague and confirm Ashcroft with few objections. That assumption may be mistaken. In 1989 the Senate rejected the elder Bush's nominee for secretary of defense, former Texas Sen. John Tower. The issues were different in that case, however.
A protracted battle over the confirmation of Ashcroft could widen the gulf between Democrats and Republicans in the Senate and damage Bush's fragile aspirations to effective leadership. If he was determined to offer a cabinet job to Ashcroft, it should have been a less sensitive position than attorney general. This nomination could be a major miscalculation.
Religious strife mars
Indonesia’s Christmas
A series of explosions near churches that killed at least 15 people and wounded 100 on Christmas Eve provided bloody evidence of Indonesia's agony. The government's security chief warned that more bomb attacks could follow at places of worship and other public facilities.
The explosions, which killed three in the Jakarta area, also claimed lives in towns in East and West Java and in the Sumatran province of Riau. They were timed to strike as churchgoers celebrated Mass on Sunday night.
President Abdurrahman Wahid said the bombings were intended to destabilize his already troubled government and "create fear and panic."
Chosen as president a little over a year ago, Wahid has been struggling with little success to establish authority over the armed forces and end the turmoil that has gripped the country since the riots that drove former President Suharto from office in 1998.
Since then Indonesia has experienced the wrenching separation of East Timor from the nation after widespread killings and other attempts at intimidation by pro-Jakarta militias, sectarian violence in the Moluccas, and revolts in Aceh province in Sumatra and in West Irian, at opposite ends of the archipelago.
Indonesia is the world's largest Muslim country, with an estimated 90 percent of its 210 million people followers of Islam. But elements of the military are suspected to be behind much of the sectarian violence. The armed forces were dominant in the Suharto regime but Wahid has tried to reduce their influence.
Wahid himself has become a target of criticism for his erratic behavior and impulsive manner of making decisions. Contributing to his problems is his poor health.
The president, although he is a Muslim leader, has long preached toleration of other religions. But he seems powerless to stem the drift into mounting sectarian violence. Thousands have died in the Moluccas in two years of fighting between Muslims and Christians. Wahid's good intentions are not enough to end the turmoil. Indonesia desperately needs strong leadership, but none is in sight.
Published by Liberty Newspapers Limited PartnershipRupert E. Phillips, CEO
John M. Flanagan, Editor & Publisher
David Shapiro, Managing Editor
Diane Yukihiro Chang, Senior Editor & Editorial Page Editor
Frank Bridgewater & Michael Rovner, Assistant Managing Editors
A.A. Smyser, Contributing Editor
