The Justice Department today, amidst much fanfare, released a report on cases in which it has used the Patriot Act. Not surprisngly, the spin is on:

The report says that in the period starting with the Sept. 11 attacks and ending May 5, Justice Department terrorism investigations have resulted in charges against 310 people, with 179 convictions or guilty pleas. The Patriot Act, it says, was instrumental in these cases. "Since the act was passed over two years ago, the Department of Justice has deployed its new authorities urgently in an effort to incapacitate terrorists before they can launch another attack ... the act's successes are already evident," the report says.

Attorney General John Ashcroft appeared at a news conference with some new soundbites. "The Patriot Act is al-Qaeda's worst nightmare." He said a "mountain of evidence" shows that the "Patriot Act continues to save lives."

Question for Mr. Ashcroft: In how many of those 179 guilty pleas were the defendants threatened that their cases would be removed from federal courts and they would be sent to Guantanamo or military prisons, held as enemy combatants and tried, if at all, by tribunal? Some of the defense lawyers for the Lackawanna (Buffalo) Six said this was the reason their clients pleaded guilty. How about the convictions in the Detroit terror trial in which the Judge has a motion under consideration to toss the verdicts because of prosecutorial misconduct? How about the Portland case which DOJ settled so it wouldn't have to litigate the motion to have the FISA searches and wiretaps declared unconstitutional--and where the defendants pleaded to avoid possible life sentences?

The full report is available here at the Wall Street Journal (paid subscription required). If you find a free link to it, please post it in the comments (in html format). And about those library records searches....