As Attorney General John Ashcroft tours the country defending the USA Patriot Act, representatives from the American Civil Liberties Union also are traveling the country attempting to unite communities against the law.

Barry Hargrove, ACLU's 9-11 field organizer, was in Nashville yesterday describing what he views as the act's threats to civil liberties and urging residents to join grass-roots efforts to organize against the law.

Hargrove said 163 communities and three states have adopted resolutions or laws opposing the Patriot Act.

Approved soon after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the law expanded government surveillance capabilities, toughened criminal penalties for terrorists and removed a legal barrier that prevented intelligence agencies and criminal investigators and prosecutors from sharing information.

The growing movement against the act has joined the ACLU with traditionally right-wing partners, Hargrove said, such as the Eagle Forum, Gun Owners of America members and Bob Barr, a former Georgia congressman who is a chairman at the American Conservative Union.

''This is not just an ACLU thing, but a groundswell of freedom-minded individuals,'' Hargrove told about 70 people yesterday at Vanderbilt University. ''We are seeing peace activists uniting with gun owners across the country to get local legislation passed opposing the Patriot Act.''

In July the ACLU filed the first legal challenge to the act, specifically the portion that allows government officials to obtain library, bookstore and other records without citizens' knowledge. A recently released memo from Ashcroft disclosed that the Justice Department has never used that controversial section of the law in what officials called an attempt to neutralize criticism and thwart attempts to curb the law.

The backlash against critics of the government, along with the implementation of the USA Patriot Act, have combined to create a chilling effect on free speech, said Hedy Weinberg, executive director of the ACLU of Tennessee.

''It took about two years for the American public to realize that the wool was being pulled over their eyes,'' Weinberg said. ''The mood has changed because people have realized the government went too far.''

But the U.S. Department of Justice has issued statements countering concerns that the Patriot Act threatens free speech and civil liberties, saying safeguards are built into the act that prevent such violations.

In a speech last month at the conservative American Enterprise Institute in Washington, Ashcroft said the Patriot Act is designed to prevent future attacks while safeguarding freedom.

''Where a culture of law enforcement inhibition prevented communication and coordination, we have built a new ethos of justice, one rooted in cooperation, nurtured by coordination and focused on a single, overarching goal: the prevention of terrorist attacks,'' Ashcroft said in the speech. ''All of this has been done within the safeguards of our Constitution and its guarantees of protection for American freedom.''

This report contains information from Tennessean news services.

© Copyright 2003 The Tennessean

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