The controversy over domestic spying

Re “Lawmakers Urge Review of U.S. Spy Program,” Dec. 19

I had to express my disgust with President Bush’s domestic spying defense that speed was the issue when the law allowed for the government to retroactively apply for warrants up to 72 hours. Bush can defend the country and follow the laws. His disregard for the law is the main reason the Patriot Act must not be passed as it stands. The Bush administration continues to trample the civil rights of U.S. citizens. Congress and the courts need to step up and defend the Constitution.

CAROL KARAS

Camarillo

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If Bush has authorized the National Security Agency to spy only on American citizens linked to terrorism, as he claims, then why not do it legally and get a warrant? In the post 9/11 era, what judge wouldn’t grant a wiretap on a suspected terrorist living in the U.S.?

So I’m left to ask, who’s being spied on that the NSA couldn’t, under the Constitution, legally obtain wiretaps for? Unfortunately, it sounds like innocent American citizens to me.

LOUIS TRIPODES

Pasadena

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Re “Bush Urges Patience for Iraq Mission,” Dec. 19

I’m not some programmed religious robot, neocon Republican who follows Bush around like a puppy dog. Rather, I am a 70-year-old atheist activist who is very knowledgeable of history and current events. Anyone who does not know our war in Iraq is justified and a necessary part of our war on terror is either ignorant of sufficient information or too stupid to understand the facts. The media are the main reason so many Americans are for us leaving Iraq before completing our mission and are lacking sufficient facts about Iraq that prove what I said above is true. It’s no wonder so many Americans hold our media in such low regard.

NEIL C. REINHARDT

Hawthorne

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In Bush’s America, the terrorists have won. They attack us to destroy our values, our laws and our Constitution, and the Bush administration gives them everything they want. Bush believes that every American is cowering in fear. That’s not my America. America stands proud, defiant in the face of the terrorists. We stand proud behind our Constitution and our laws, because we know that they make us great.

The revelation of illegal wiretaps is only just another example of abandoning our core values to give in to the terrorists. I want my America back.

CHRISTOPHER JOHNSON

Cerritos

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If a president’s moral lapse in judgment can lead to an impeachment, I wonder what a legal lapse can lead to?

GARY MARC REMSON

Sherman Oaks