Terror warnings mount

Herald news services

WASHINGTON — Attorney General John Ashcroft warned of a "very serious threat" of new terrorism against Americans that may increase if the United States retaliates for the Sept. 11 attacks, and urged Congress to expand police powers by Friday to counter the threat.

While Ashcroft has spoken repeatedly in recent weeks about a "clear and present danger," he has maintained a reserved and at times even reassuring public tone.

But the attorney general appeared to hold back little on Sunday, and observers said that the rhetorical escalation could signal that the Bush administration is considering an even stronger expansion of federal police powers — a trend many members of the public appear willing to support.

"We think that there is a very serious threat of additional problems now," Ashcroft said. "And, frankly, as the United States responds, that threat may escalate."

Expanding on that warning, Ashcroft said on CNN’s "Late Edition" that "there are all kinds of threats," including explosives. "I think there is a clear, present danger to Americans, not one that should keep us from living our lives, but one that should make us alert."

Andrew Card, Bush’s chief of staff, promised that the administration would increase inventories of key vaccines and medicines. Asked on "Fox News Sunday" whether he agreed with an assertion by Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., that the United States could use nuclear weapons to respond to a biological or chemical attack, Card said, "We’re going to do everything we can to defend the United States."

Lawmakers, meanwhile, indicated there would be rapid action on the antiterrorism legislation, perhaps by the Oct. 5 target the administration has set. There is wide agreement on various new provisions, including allowing investigators to see what Internet sites a suspect visited and to wiretap multiple telephones used by a suspect without obtaining a separate warrant for each phone. There will also likely be tougher penalties without statutes of limitations for terrorist offenses.

The largest remaining issue is whether foreigners who have violated immigration laws can be detained indefinitely.

Despite their warnings about further attacks, top administration officials said President Bush wants to reopen Reagan National Airport and expressed confidence that new security measures would allow the reopening.

In the Afghan capital of Kabul, the trial of eight foreign aid workers charged with preaching Christianity resumed for the first time since the Sept. 11 terror attacks in the United States. The top judge in the trial, Noor Mohammed Saqib, told the workers — who include two Americans — the threat of U.S. military action would not affect their case.

Deborah Oddy, the mother of one of the Americans, said her daughter, Heather Mercer, had written a letter Sept. 25 asking that any U.S. retaliation wait until the workers had been freed. "All eight of us want to live," she wrote.

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