Letter: Democrats have not forgotten 9/11

Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2006 | 9:27 a.m.

Regarding Lee S. Gliddon Jr.'s Jan. 28 letter, "Have Democrats forgotten 9/11?"

First, the Patriot Act was a quickly passed, knee-jerk reaction to 9/11. Upon further review, it was noted that several parts of this act infringed on the civil liberties of normal Americans. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., along with several Republican legislators, want to correct these errors before renewing the act.

Second, the recent surveillance of American citizens by the National Security Agency is in direct violation of the Fourth Amendment. The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) allows spying for three days without a warrant if the government in its warrant application to the FISA court can prove it was necessary. In the history of the FISA court, it has only refused three of these "after-the-fact warrants." This administration bypassed the FISA court and wrongly stated that the president has the power to do whatever he wishes.

Mr. Glidden, the Democrats have not forgotten 9/11. The Democrats have been pushing for funding to secure our ports to prevent weapons of mass destruction from coming into the United States. The Republicans feel that it's a low-priority issue.

The Democrats understand that we live in a democratic republic with a system of checks and balances and that citizens have civil rights given to them by the Constitution. The Republicans, it appears, have forgotten this.

William L. Eller Jr.

Las Vegas