Ashcroft’s Orders on Suicide, Detentions

Re “Ashcroft Attacks Oregon’s Suicide Law,” Nov. 7: I see that Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft has ordered the DEA to expand the drug war to include doctors in Oregon. I imagine that investigations will be easy: “Did the patient die in agony with no painkillers?” “Yes.” “OK, no problem.” Now, how is the investigation into anthrax threat letters sent to women’s clinics coming along?

Julie Raffety

Santa Barbara

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Ashcroft evidently believes that only criminals who commit horrible crimes should be assured a painless death.

Joseph Grodsky

Los Angeles

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Apparently America has won the war on terrorism. Why else would Ashcroft take the time to prolong the suffering of terminally ill people? Oh yeah, I forgot. Like Osama bin Laden, Ashcroft is a religious fundamentalist.

Greg Steinberg

Los Angeles

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“Isolation, Secrecy Veil Most Jailed in Roundup” (Nov. 4) is scary. You give a guy like Ashcroft a little power and he runs amok. The trouble is, he has been given so much power that he has lost touch with reality. I have heard the expression “Lock ‘em up and throw away the key.” It now appears that that’s Ashcroft’s practice. Hasn’t he ever heard the expression “innocent until proven guilty”?

It makes no difference how many people with Arab names are arrested; when the problem is there and placed in inefficient hands, the problem will only get worse. Remember Pearl Harbor? President Roosevelt rounded up all Americans of Japanese descent and put them in camps. Is this another proud chapter in our history?

Lee Hinson

Costa Mesa

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Freedom in this country will only continue to exist if enough brave people are willing to make sacrifices to defend it. Muslims living in the U.S. (either legally or illegally) are in a unique position to help defend our freedom by helping the U.S. fight our enemy, the terrorists. Therefore, I was happy to see in your article that the FBI is offering the Muslim detainees the opportunity to help the U.S. by infiltrating the terrorist networks. Anyone who is not willing to help in this effort, either because they are philosophically opposed to it or because they are too afraid to do so, has no business enjoying the fruits of freedom in this country.

Susan Stalzer

Santa Ana