Never Again: Securing America and Restoring Justice

…..of how a few good, clear thinking, tough minded patriots, made a lot of tough calls to keep America safe. An excellent reminder indeed.

Former Attorney General John Ashcroft gives you insight into one of the toughest jobs in America. The book is filled with facts and situations as well as solutions. Mr. Ashcroft provides plenty of information about how serious the terrorist threat is to our nation. He also explains how important it is to have programs like NSEERS.(National Security Entry-Exit Registration System) When implimented they immediately apprehended over 300 aliens at the border who presented threats. Only parts of this program have survived due to protests. Had this program been in effect prior to 9/11 it is possible that we could have stopped the deaths of over 3,000 people. This is a no nonsense book. Well written. My only complaint would be that this book should have been about 1,000 pages instead of only 294. I am convinced that Mr. Ashcroft is a great American and did an outstanding job against all odds.It is very unfortunate that he received more resistance from our own ill informed citizens, politicians and biased media than from the criminals he helped stop. Thank you John for your service!

Fascinating book. Provides great insight into the election, 9-11, and many other momentous occasions.

Do you know two words that will cause a leftist to explode? John Ashcroft. Try it sometime. Go up to a sandal wearing, hot chai drinking, Clinton loving dip and whisper in their wax encrusted ear, "John Ashcroft," and then duck for cover as their head explodes with more force than that poor guy at the beginning of "Scanners". When President George Bush announced to the country that he was nominating the former senator from Missouri to the post of Attorney General, leftards around the nation went to the mattresses. Screams of outrage poured out of the television set and in op-eds at all the left-wing newspapers. Maureen Dowd was so depressed she scheduled another face-lift and fell off the wagon for the second time in a day. Tom Daschle threatened to set himself on fire on live television. Bill Clinton cheated on his wife. It was a dark time for liberals across the nation when Ashcroft said he'd like to take the job. He promised to take away our civil liberties, prosecute pro-choice advocates, and jail non-Christians. He also said he'd close public libraries so homeless folks would have to stay out in the cold. What an inhuman monster!Of course, nothing of the sort described above happened. Except Bill Clinton did cheat on his wife, but that had nothing to do with Ashcroft's appointment and installation as the nation's Attorney General. In fact, the former senator did a good job while in office. And what a trying time it was! The terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 occurred during Ashcroft's tenure in office, an incident that put the spotlight directly on him. He held up well, crafting laws that pulled down a wall separating law enforcement and intelligence operations so that both could work together to put terrorists away for good. He oversaw the passing of the Patriot Act, a piece of legislation decried by leftists as totalitarian, but in reality a healthy reaction to the terrorist acts that helped put into place databases that could track unwanted aliens in the United States. He also helped to put the awful Lynne Stewart, a left-wing radical lawyer with a history of anti-American rabble rousing, in jail for illegally helping a terrorist client communicate with his cell of lunatic followers. John Ashcroft covers all of these events, and many more, in his excellent book "Never Again: Securing America and Restoring Justice".Ashcroft begins his book by describing the election that forced him out as Missouri senator. A favorite story for leftists, he lost his bid for reelection to a dead man when his opponent died in a plane crash before polling day. Well, not really. A vote for his opponent meant that his wife, Jean Carnahan, would take the seat. And she did when some sneaky democrat tricks, including a judge who allowed polls to stay open in St. Louis long after closing time, turned the tide in her direction. Ashcroft handles this account with grace and tact. He also is gracious when describing his contentious confirmation hearings in front of his former Senate colleagues. A seething cauldron consisting of one part Patrick Leahy and two parts Teddy Kennedy; you can imagine what the hearings were like. Ashcroft sailed through like a pro and went to the floor for confirmation despite an ugly smear campaign that made the Clarence Thomas hearings look like a friendly conversation with Mr. Rogers. He has almost nothing but good things to say about his former colleagues, even those who took cheap shots and disparaged him at every turn. Pretty big of him, I'd say.Ashcroft discusses the 9/11 days in great detail, his challenges in crafting effective legislation, and his testimony in front of the 9/11 Commission where he slapped down Clinton apparatchik Jamie Gorelick for expanding the wall of separation between law enforcement and intelligence that allowed the hijackers to get away with their nefarious plans. If nothing else, "Never Again" serves as yet another piece of compelling evidence showing how reckless the Clinton Administration was with our national security. While Slick lounged around in the Oval Office with his cigars and Monica, our enemies plotted to bring down the World Trade Center, blow our ships out of the water, topple our embassies overseas, and generally make the United States look like a spineless weakling. They succeeded in spades. That doesn't mean the terrorist attacks of 9/11 might not have happened had adults been in office during the 1990s, but I think it's less likely they would have occurred if for no other reason than the attacks leading up to that horrible day in September 2001 would have received a much stronger response than anything Clinton did. Slick Willy was too busy trying to protect his scandal-plagued administration from impeachment to pay attention to real issues in the world. This work highlights that clearly.I highly recommend John Ashcroft's book. It's an easy read written in a friendly, conversational style that puts to lie everything said about this man in the mainstream media. John Ashcroft came and went and the world did not end. No pro-choice advocates mysteriously disappeared from the streets of America. No far reaching conspiracy put an end to civil liberties as we know them (despite what liberals will tell you, only terrorists and pro-terrorist fellow travelers seemed to wind up in jail). That doesn't mean the Patriot Act COULDN'T be used to take away our rights, but John Ashcroft didn't use the law to do that. It will probably be a liberal sometime in the next twenty years, likely as a way to increase "diversity" and "tolerance". Anyway, pick up "Never Again" and breeze through it right away. I was pleasantly surprised to find this book in the library, and even more pleased to discover it is a wonderful, insightful book.

I would recommend AG Ashcroft's book to most anyone, even those who have some preconceived ideas of how well, or not, he did while in this office. In Never Again, Ashcroft goes a long way in explaining the problems that faced him as he took on this thankless job. In government jobs, you do the best you can with whatever they give you to work with no matter what your political feeling are, and he had very little to work with when he came into office.If you are a conservative, you'll enjoy the book. If you're not, try to look around the name-calling as Ashcroft tends to stereotype those who feel his "tough" tactics are the same type person who, during the Cold War, were termed as folks would rather be red than dead. He tends to paint those who do not agree with him as being less than patriotic and misguided. That said, try to listen to what he is saying.You will also enjoy Ashcroft's book if you are a Christian and maybe you'll better understand it. I'm not and was offended in spots, but usually, it helps to have a person of faith in high office; if they follow their faith as they enforce our laws. Ashcroft tended to do that while in office and should be given credit for that as he explains how he followed both moral and civil law.I would have liked for him to have addressed how he equates using illegal methods as only getting `tough' on terrorists, and I would have rather he used `suspected' terrorists in some places in the book. Tough methods can be used in court, but not illegal methods. I also was looking to see Ashcroft's thoughts on that middle-of-the night visit by Alberto Gonzales while he was in the hospital recovering from surgery. I guess what I'm saying is I would have liked to have seen him cover some of the bad with the good; the whole picture.As a military retiree and someone who has lately been called a liberal, I gained more understanding of AG Ashcroft and the job he had while he was on `active duty' as a government employee. We may not all agree with some of his decisions, but I, for one, thank him for his service.