Letters to the Editors

FBI agent served her country well by writing memo

FBI Special Agent Coleen Rowley did a great service to her country and the American people by writing that memo. After reading the memo several times, I think it was obvious that Rowley is not self-serving, but a dedicated professional. The errors of the FBI go way back to director Louis Freeh, and there has been gross mismanagement over the years. The entire agency needs to be revamped.

The ranks of FBI management are filled with many who were failures as street agents. If people like me, normal everyday people working to make a living, screwed up as much as agents and management in the FBI, we would be out of a job in a heartbeat.

Notwithstanding the urgent public importance of the memo and its contents, the document has been classified by the FBI. The state of the national security classification system is such that whoever classified the Rowley memo did nothing wrong. But whoever provided it to Time magazine violated his or her classified information nondisclosure agreement, and possibly one or more regulations and laws.

I shudder to think of the lives that might have been saved if more decisive action had been taken prior to Sept. 11. The FBI in Washington, D.C., seems to minimize anything that comes out of a field office, as was pointed out in the memo as, "omitted, downplayed, glossed over and or/mischaracterized." We will never know the impact, but Special Agent Rowley's memo, at the very least, forced the FBI and the current administration to confront their failures instead of sweeping them under the rug. She is a true patriot.
-- Betty G. O'Hearn, Treasure Island

Just collecting more dots

Many of those in the know, including the higher-ups in the FBI, agree that changes must be made in that organization. Their agents seem to gather much information and send it up the line, but the experts up that line do not connect the dots.

So what steps does Attorney General John Ashcroft take to correct this problem? Well, we'll open up the churches, political meetings and so forth to our agents and gather more and more data to send upward. If there are enough dots going up, they just might connect themselves.
-- Betty Rosamilia, Gulfport

A case of criminal negligence

Re: The Rowley memo blames the FBI, by William Safire, March, 28.

I have read the entire Rowley memo, as published, and the accompanying article "How the FBI Blew the Case," on the www.time.com Web site.

As a retired, 24-year Vietnam and Gulf War era military veteran of two U.S. service branches, I have seen my share of military command blunders and mistakes. Circle-the-wagons indeed! How typical!

So, I am not going to be nice about this! I am not going to be understanding! From my point of view, the FBI headquarters staff has committed what I classify as extreme negligence!

No, that is too nice. Criminal negligence, is a better fit!
-- Roy Shepard, Largo

Foreign policy shift is in order

The recent statements by the vice president, the FBI director and the secretary of Defense, regarding the inevitability of further terrorist attacks against Americans should be perceived by the American public as pathetic confessions that the Bush administration remains totally clueless and uninterested in the things that genuinely make for peace. Further attacks are inevitable only in so far as the Bush administration lacks the imagination to change U.S. foreign policy.

We continue, needlessly, to antagonize our very dangerous and determined enemies by maintaining our military presence in Saudi Arabia. If we withdrew our personnel from Arabia and issued a public apology for our thoughtless sacrilege against the holy sites of Islam, it is highly likely that our enemies would lose interest in further attacks against us.

Yes, we could actually make a constructive change in our own national behavior, but the Bush administration apparently prefers to wreck our economy completely and to see thousands more Americans murdered rather than to admit that our foreign policy is flawed.

Administration officials admit that they cannot protect us from our enemies, and they have amply demonstrated that they are incapable of destroying our enemies. But our current state of perpetual war is not at all inevitable. It is merely the choice selected by the unimaginative. It is not too late, even now, to choose peace. Imagine that.
-- John Brockman, Dunedin

Fear tactics at work

Re: John Ashcroft's in your computer, by Nat Hentoff, May 25.

Bertrand Russell said, "The next step in a Facist movement is to fascinate fools and muzzle the intelligent by emotional excitement on the one hand and terrorism on the other."

At no time is freedom more precious than when we are in danger of losing it. Why did Congress "overwhelmingly" pass a bill that was too lengthy to read? Did the name USA Patriot Act intimidate them as Ashcroft had hoped? It seems we already are in danger of losing our rights. Fear tactics still work and that is what John Ashcroft is banking on.

I was a sophomore in high school when our history teacher, Mr. Gordon, told us, "Never be afraid to question the methods your government uses. It's your constitutional right." The Estes Kefauver hearings were discussed in class. The word "un-American" came up often. Joe McCarthy made sure of that. During class one day, I said I didn't know what frightened me more -- Russia and Communism or Joe McCarthy's methods of rooting it out. Mr. Gordon said my question alone strengthens democracy and our country. He told us under Communism or Facism, you dare not question authority.

It is 50 years since I was afraid for my country and the methods used to keep America safe. I am just as frightened now!
-- Judith Dunaieff, Seminole

Armed pilots are better protection

Re: Pilots who oppose arming pilots, May 30.

Columnist George Will picked three airline pilots out of 120,000 who just happen to be against arming pilots. If these three wish not to protect their passengers, crew or themselves, this is a voluntary project.

Security can be breached as can the cockpit door. Armed pilots are not to leave the cockpit with a weapon. They are not going to be shooting over their shoulders at the bad guys in the back.

They say that there are no atheists in a fox hole. The next time you fly I want you to think about some malcontent gaining access to the cockpit. The government said that an attack on U.S. soil is a matter of when, not if. Would you want your pilot armed?

As far as shooting out the windscreen and sucking someone out of the aircraft, if an intruder is in the cockpit, that is the least of your problems.
-- Dennis Condon, Palm Harbor

We can trust pilots with weapons

It seems obvious that the terrible events of Sept. 11 would not have happened if the pilots had been armed with handguns. Commercial airline pilots are not ordinary people and should not be regarded as such in the debate about firearms. They are a breed of their own. The most precious asset to an airman is not to panic under pressure; commercial pilots are well qualified in this regard. Hearing on broadcast tape playbacks the almost laconic voice of an airline pilot trying to avoid disaster with a disabled aircraft is proof of their courage and stability under trying circumstances. The low aircraft accident rate is further evidence of their skill and dedication to the responsibility of their profession.

It is difficult to understand the rationale for not arming pilots. It is so vague and ill-defined by those with an almost paranoid aversion for guns that it sounds like sophistry. The risk of a passenger or crew member being a victim of misuse by a firearm is too remote for consideration. Even if there is a risk of harm to passengers during a hijack confrontation, it has to be accepted for the welfare of all aboard.
-- John George, Clearwater

Protesters' message was overlooked

Re: 10 protesters arrested at rally in front of MacDill, May 27.

The lack of reporting is evident. Were the experienced, talented reporters busy May 26? Your paper fails to mention the coalition advocating peace and social justice was interested in exploring the roots of why these countries attacked the United States, aside from calling for peace unequivocally.

We, the members of this coalition, want to address the causes for this war and deal with those. We are calling on the government to deal with the poverty, oppression, lack of social justice and many other causes in these Third World countries that have nurtured anti-American sentiment worldwide. We want our fellow citizens to examine the things our government has done (it takes two to tango) to stimulate these attitudes.

If you think their claims are invalid, you are probably going on the information provided by our corporate media. As you can see from the article I am writing about, they are largely ineffective at amplifying the voices of the people; they print the story they wish to tell, not the one we are telling. I am not a spokesperson for this group, just a participating member. Most Americans are ill-informed about the oppression that exists in these Muslim countries, and if it were up to our corporate media, we would remain so.

I will continue to oppose the imperialist agenda of the Bush family. I want our country to develop renewable, clean sources of energy (hydrogen fuel cells, solar power) so that we no longer have to support terrorism by driving our automobiles.

Don't any of you people wonder why Saudi Arabia was not first on our terrorist list? Fifteen of the Sept. 11 hijackers on the planes were from there. Lucky for the Saudis, we get lots of oil from them, so they are safe. If you relate to any of this, vote for the Green candidates (www.greens.org) when you see them on the ballot.
-- Anthony Lorenzo, Tampa

Commercials mar solemn programming

Observing the TV programming of the solemn Memorial Day events on the Normandy beaches of France and witnessing the thousands of grave sites of the many brave American and Allied soldiers who sacrificed their lives for all of us to be free served as a sorrowful reminder of the anguish and grief of the families and loved ones of those who lie in those graves.

Then come the commercials. Cannot one wonder why corporate America will not forgo profits for just this one day in memory of those who fought and died on those beaches?

Why not put aside the greed for profit-taking for just this one day? No selling, no commercials, and honor those who sacrificed their all for this freedom we so fortunately experience today.
-- Dan Traylor, Pinellas Park

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