WE NEED TO BE CAREFUL OF OUR CIVIL LIBERTIES

Like everyone else, I believe we need to find the person or persons
responsible for the Sept. 11 attacks and bring them to justice. But we need
to be cautious that in this time of great emotion, we not allow civil
liberties to be trampled upon. It would be easy to justify suspending some
of the protections we enjoy, as proposed by the U.S. attorney general, in
an attempt to find those responsible for this atrocity. Once these
protections are gone, we may never get them back.

President Bush has declared war on all terrorism. This is like a war on
poverty or a war on drugs -- it can't be won. Does a war on terrorism
include the Irish Republican Army and the Timothy McVeighs who live among
us? In not specifying an enemy, we could be engaged in mini-Vietnams all
over the world for years to come.

This president squandered a massive budget surplus in approximately seven
months on the job. Imagine what he could do while looking for the boogeyman.

David L. DuVall Huntington