Letter: Enemies watch our broadcasts

Friday, Oct. 12, 2001 | 4:27 a.m.

I was 17 years old in December 1941 when we turned on our radio to learn from our president, Franklin Roosevelt, that Pearl Harbor had been bombed by Japan and that America had declared war.

There was no television at this time. In order to know and see what was going on during the war, people had to go to their neighborhood movie house to see "Fox News," which reported and screened only our wins and losses, after the fact.

There were no continuous interviews with people in the "need to know," most of whom do not have the facts, who speculate and distort the facts. The very important saying of that time was, "A slip of the lip will sink a ship."

I am very disturbed today to see and hear CNN, ABC, NBC and every newscaster interviewing all of these former and present government leaders to try to pre-empt not only what is going to happen in this, "America's New War," but also when and where our ships, planes and ground troops are moving.

Our enemies don't have to waste their human resources to find out by the minute where and what America is doing -- TV and radio broadcast where our president and Cabinet are going to be on a daily basis. They are telling our enemies where and when our military is moving and in what quantities.

Don't we know that our enemies also watch CNN and other news stations? Our constitutional freedom of speech should be tempered with wise and careful deliberation. Forget TV ratings. This is war!

TERESE BAKER