Letter: Choose ‘allies’ very carefully

Friday, Oct. 26, 2001 | 9:42 a.m.

Shockingly, during a 2000 campaign stop in Tampa, Fla., George Bush and his wife posed for pictures with Dr. Sami Al-Arian, the U.S. frontman for one of the largest terrorist-group coalitions in the world -- Islamic Jihad.

The Bush administration appears willing to overlook the duplicity and deviousness of our new "allies" in its attempt to build a broad anti-terrorist coalition. The Washington Post reported in September that the president has "asked Congress for authority to waive all existing restrictions on U.S. military assistance and weapons exports for the next five years to any country if he determines the aid will help the fight against international terrorism."

The Post underscored that the waiver would be of greatest benefit to "nations currently ineligible for U.S. military aid because of their sponsorship of terrorism, such as Syria and Iran," as well as Pakistan (principal creator of the Taliban) and Communist China.

Defenders of the administration might insist, "We're part of a UN-approved posse now, and we should make sure that our allies have the firepower to do the job." But a sheriff who goes riding with a posse like this is going to find himself on the wrong end of a hangman's noose.

FRANK PELTESON