The attorney general and a presidential candidate state opposite viewpoints.

MERRIMACK, N.H. (AP) – While Attorney General John Ashcroft continued his efforts to defend the USA Patriot Act, Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards proposed repealing some provisions of the anti-terrorism law.

Ashcroft was in New Castle on Monday for the latest stop on a monthlong tour to counter criticism that the act has given the government too much power to monitor its citizens secretly. In other cities, he has described a series of terrorism arrests that would have been more difficult had the act not helped intelligence agencies, criminal investigators and prosecutors share information.

“Make no mistake,” Ashcroft told a gathering of law enforcement officers at Wentworth by the Sea. “Our strategy and tactics are working. Our tools are effective. We are winning the war on terrorism.”

But Edwards, who voted for the Patriot Act in 2001, argues that Ashcroft has abused the power given to him under the law and taken away citizens’ freedoms without making them safer.

“John Ashcroft has trampled on our rights and claimed unprecedented power. We need to rein in this attorney general,” he said in remarks prepared for delivery at a Town Hall meeting Monday night.

He proposed repealing a portion of the act that allows anti-terrorism investigators to access library or business records and replacing it with a new provision that would require them to better justify their requests in court.

Ashcroft has defended the libraries provision, saying subpoenas of business or library records are subject to greater scrutiny by judges under the anti-terrorism law than those issued under regular criminal investigations.

But Edwards said more scrutiny is needed.

“Judges should be a real check, not a rubber stamp,” Edwards said.

Edwards also wants the government to provide the public with more information about how the Patriot Act is working. For example, the public should know how many wiretaps investigators have used, he said.

Repeating earlier comments, Edwards added that the act should be updated to prevent U.S. citizens from being detained indefinitely without access to lawyers if they are declared “enemy combatants.”

Ashcroft insists Americans broadly support the Patriot Act, and that critics are misinterpreting what it allows law enforcement to do. Justice Department officials have warned of dire consequences if Congress takes back the new powers.

“We need the act,” said Walter Cullen the police chief of Hamilton, Mass., who was at the meeting in New Castle. “I think it’s a great law enforcement tool to protect the citizens.”

Edwards supporter Elissa Stone was among about 75 protesters who shouted their displeasure at Ashcroft as he entered the hotel.

Ashcroft “has brought us to a police state,” said Stone, of Portsmouth.

Others held signs saying “I’m a citizen, not a suspect,” and “John Ashcroft is watching you.”

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Associated Press reporter Mike Recht in New Castle contributed to this story.

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