WAR HERO'S DISCHARGE IS DISGRACEFUL

I was both sad and fearful when I read that a highly decorated Air Force
officer, a Gulf War veteran based at Hickam Air Force Base, will be
dishonorably discharged for possession of less than a gram of marijuana
(Star-Bulletin, April 26). It is absurd that this military officer's career
should end in dishonor due to an airport underwear search. The war on drugs,
in this case assisted by the Patriot Act, is out of control. It threatens us
all.

I believe our founding fathers would be horrified by the erosion of civil
rights and personal freedom in our country today. Can you imagine Thomas
Paine's reaction to a country that requires "travel papers" (photo
identification) of its citizens? This smacks of Nazi Germany, with
jack-booted guards boarding a train and demanding, "Where are your travel
papers?" Then, once the proper papers are produced, the cowed citizen is
subjected to a body search. Is this the country that our forefathers
envisioned and that the Hickam officer earned a Distinguished Flying Cross
defending?

When we as citizens allow the "camel's nose" of government intervention to
poke its way under the "tent" of our personal lives and privacy, we run a
serious risk. One day we may wake up and find a camel in our own BVDs.

Eric R. Anderson