Wen Ho Lee Should Tell His Los Alamos Story

For once I agree with Robert Scheer (“The Persecution of Wen Ho Lee, Redux,” Commentary, Aug. 7). He talks about Wen Ho Lee’s right to publish his side of the spy scandal surrounding himself, a Los Alamos nuclear scientist held by the U.S. government as a potential spy for China. Lee should [be allowed to] publish his book and explain exactly what he was going to do with the equivalent of 250,000 pages of classified nuclear secrets that he downloaded and took home.

Lee downloaded the information at about midnight on Christmas Eve. Incidentally, that was the one charge out of the 59 charges that were filed against Lee that he pleaded guilty to in a plea bargain that Scheer refers to as “a single count of mishandling secret data.” What exactly does Scheer believe Lee was going to do with those 250,000 pages of nuclear secrets? Perhaps he will insert his explanation as an excerpt from his upcoming book on Lee in a future column. I’d certainly like to hear it.

Hugh Rose

Newhall

Scheer’s column demonstrates once again that our government, federal or state, seldom acknowledges mistakes. Its goal is to win at all costs and justice be damned.

Our legal system is the best in the world. However, it has one fatal flaw. The prosecutor and defendant are not playing on a level field. The all-powerful prosecutor, with unlimited resources funded by our tax money, battles a defendant with meager reserves (unless he is someone like O.J. Simpson). The advancement of a prosecutor is based on his conviction rate and not on serving justice. Is there any wonder why our legal system is in such disarray?

Now, even Lee’s 1st Amendment protection is being violated. Yet few media are willing to risk the wrath of our government by raising their voices. Freedom will last only if each individual’s Bill of Rights is rigorously safeguarded.

Victor Chun

Los Angeles