Ashcroft Points a Finger at Clinton Administration

Re “Ashcroft Cites Lapses Years Before 9/11,” April 14: Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft testified that the FBI was unprepared to uncover and fight the terrorist threat because it didn’t have enough resources and was hobbled by legal constraints from the Clinton administration. He took no responsibility for those failures even in the face of testimony by former acting FBI Director Thomas Pickard that he [Ashcroft] didn’t want to hear any more about terrorism.

If you’re wondering why the funds weren’t available to fund counterterrorism, think about how much money was spent by Kenneth Starr and the Republican Congress to investigate and then impeach President Clinton, and the money required to respond to the political brouhaha around the custody of the Cuban child, Elian Gonzalez. The Republicans who are so sanctimonious today about their crusade to defend and protect America were just a few years ago engaged in the most political and irresponsible witch hunt while the storm clouds gathered.

Mr. Ashcroft, have you no shame?

Victoria Faerstein

Saul Faerstein

Los Angeles

Ashcroft blames the Clinton administration for not prioritizing counterterrorism efforts during the 1990s. As of this writing, the current administration, under the guidance of Ashcroft, is launching an extensive anti-pornography and anti-obscenity witch hunt and assault on the 1st Amendment.

My message to Ashcroft is plain and simple. Call off your moralistic attack dogs and redirect their efforts to something more constructive and in the interest of all Americans, not just your righteous religious-right friends, i.e., the hunt for terrorists on our own soil.

Bob Constantine

Placentia

Re Ashcroft’s statement that the U.S. government “had blinded itself to its enemies”: Clinton, on a television newscast in the late 1990s, was asked what the chances were of a terrorist attack on American soil. His response was, “100%.”

Vivien Irving

Huntington Beach