The Fight Is Returning to U.S. Soil, Ashcroft Warns

I see that Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft and FBI Director Robert S. Mueller are warning us yet again of an impending attack on our soil (May 27). President Bush has told us many times, over many months, that Iraq is the “central front on the war on terror” and that as long as the terrorists are over there, they are not here wreaking death and devastation. To back this theory, we’ve committed hundreds of lives of our military, as well as thousands of innocent citizens’ lives, to death and injury. We’ve spent hundreds of billions of dollars that could have been used here in the U.S. to protect us against terrorist attacks. We’ve laid our reputation on the line and compromised our relationship with many of our allies.

Now we learn that Al Qaeda has been able to almost completely rebuild its organization in Afghanistan and elsewhere while we were diverted in Iraq.

So, my question is this: If the terrorists do attack us again at home, what will that mean? The president, who has been proven wrong about so much, will again have one of his assertions proved tragically, horribly wrong. A terrorist attack would, and must, be laid directly at the feet of this administration, which took us to war to keep us safe.

Sherry McDonald

Chowchilla, Calif.

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I must say, I find it amusing that your report of Ashcroft’s press conference warning us that someone, somewhere, somehow (none of which is known) is going to get us sometime (unknown) this summer, neglects to mention a key point Ashcroft made: He said that Al Qaeda, buoyed by its recent successes in Spain, will probably attack in the hope of influencing the presidential election in November. The clear implication, of course, is that, whereas the Spanish ousted Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar because they were cowed by Al Qaeda, Ashcroft knows that the American voter, properly propagandized, won’t tuck tail and run.

In the event that the U.S. is indeed attacked before the November election, I will find it difficult not to assume the attack was planned and paid for by the Bush reelection committee.

Emil Berkanovic

Los Angeles

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Are we supposed to believe what we are being told by this deceitful and arrogant administration? The cynical speeches that the president reads to us and the press conferences that substitute doubletalk for anything useful only raise more questions about the total lack of substance and responsibility these people demonstrate. They are an embarrassment.

Steve Schultz

Desert Hot Springs

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Am I the only one whose heart starts thumping with anger at a headline that screams the words “FBI Ignored Spain’s Doubt on Fingerprint” (May 26)? Should we not be concerned when one of the four items listed in the prosecution affidavit was Oregon lawyer Brandon Mayfield’s “visiting a mosque near his home”? Did I read that right? The FBI is concerned when a U.S. citizen chooses to worship his faith?

Will I be labeled unpatriotic and placed on some “terrorist watch list” for sensing that the FBI’s behavior was inappropriately rushed -- again -- at the expense of efficiency and accuracy? Will my friends someday be arrested for “associating with a known composer of letters to the editor critical of the U.S. government”?

Why is it now acceptable in this nation that Mayfield’s life can be ruined by a purportedly diligent yet ultimately flawed law enforcement agency, all in the name of national security? Frankly, I feel terrorized by the “war on terror” itself.

Eric Billigmeier

Los Angeles