ASHCROFT PRAISES PORTLAND POLICE

The Attorney General Also Draws Protests During A Speech In Portland

PORTLAND -- U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft on Friday praised Portland
law enforcement for their cooperation with federal officials that led to
the arrest of six local residents on terrorism charges.

"They are key to the war on terror, the strategy of preventing additional
attacks on the USA," Ashcroft said of the Portland Joint Terrorism Task Force.

His speech was greeted by applause from rows of county sheriffs, Portland
police officers and FBI agents inside the Mark O. Hatfield federal courthouse.

Outside and kept at bay by lines of riot police in black uniforms,
protesters greeted Ashcroft's visit with hoots and epithets. Drum beats
from the protest could be heard inside where Ashcroft was speaking.

Oregon has been the target of aggressive action by Ashcroft's Justice
Department on such issues as medical marijuana, assisted suicide and law
enforcement cooperation in the war on terrorism.

A few hundred protesters in a park across from the courthouse shouted
criticism for the attorney general's intervention in Oregon's unique
physician-assisted suicide law and his stance on the war on terrorism. One
woman was dressed as the Statue of Liberty with a gag over her mouth.

Ashcroft, a former Republican senator from Missouri who became attorney
general in 2001, earlier caused a stir in Oregon by intervening in the
state's assisted suicide law.

At least 91 people have chosen to end their lives with the help of their
doctors since the Oregon law took effect in 1998. In November 2001,
Ashcroft announced that the Drug Enforcement Administration would
discipline Oregon physicians who prescribed lethal doses of barbiturates.
The directive was challenged and currently is under appeal in the 9th U.S.
Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco.