Letter: Anxiety over spying not limited to liberals

Sunday, Feb. 12, 2006 | 12:32 p.m.

Clarence Lanzrath's Feb. 10 letter makes two false assumptions - that only liberals are unhappy about our government's spying program and that if we had the NSA spying and, I assume, the Patriot Act before 9/11, that the Twin Towers would still be standing.

First, both liberals and conservatives favor the NSA program. It is the lack of oversight that troubles both parties. This country was built on checks and balances and not the trust of a president who punishes dissent and his political enemies. Second, the Bush administration did know about the intention of al-Qaida to attack us by crashing airplanes into our buildings. Bush did nothing to prevent it because terrorism was not a priority then and it is not a high priority now.

The enemy in Afghanistan was the Taliban, who were being difficult about our gas pipeline, which was to be built through their country. Osama bin Laden and all of his top people escaped because the top Bush priorities were to put down the Taliban and then take control of the Iraq oil reserves. Bush calls this "spreading democracy," but, to this day, the only one convicted of al-Qaida terrorism is the shoe bomber.

Now the president is asking for what will amount to $580 billion for defense spending that will have nothing to do with terrorism. He intends to partially pay for this and his tax cuts by cutting domestic spending on such items as Homeland Security, while continuing unlawful invasions, torture and the unrestrained curtailment of our civil rights. That should trouble liberals, conservatives and even Mr. Lanzrath.

Jerry Bitts, Las Vegas