ASHCROFT'S PRIORITIES

To the Editor:

David Corn is right on point in "Bush's Little Secret" [News, May 23], but
there's even more to the story about how Ashcroft's Justice Department has
their priorities wrong.

The question remains, in spite of the federal bureaucracy's hollow attempts
to spin their way out of this blunder: What did the Bush administration
know and when did they know it?

Americans ask why the Justice Department failed to investigate the "20th
hijacker" when informed of his capture in Minneapolis. But one area that
clearly needs review is why, just one week prior to September 11,
Ashcroft's FBI had deployed more than 50 agents and snipers to participate
in a local asset forfeiture situation at the Rainbow Farm in Cass County,
Michigan. Cass County is only hours away from where Zacarias Moussaoui was
held by, you guessed it, the FBI. Apparently pot smokers somehow deserve
more attention than terrorists in the Bush administration.

Two of America's sons lay dead on the ground, one shot through the forehead
by a FBI sharpshooter. Meanwhile, the Minneapolis and Phoenix offices of
the FBI begged for someone at headquarters to listen concerning an imminent
terrorist threat that ultimately resulted in the death of over 3,000
innocent Americans.

I'd like to thank John Ashcroft and Michigan's Governor John Engler for
saving America from those two potheads, who clearly deserved the undivided
attention of the Justice Department, while terrorists moved freely among
us. Protest against marijuana prohibition, you die; plot the biggest attack
ever to occur on American soil, and you're largely ignored.

Hundreds of thousands of U.S. law enforcement and government agents are
posted locally, nationally, and around the globe. Close to 1 trillion
dollars in taxpayers' assets are spent annually, in one form or another, to
protect the homeland from attack. So how are they doing?

In 2001, U.S. law enforcement arrested about 750,000 Americans for simple
possession of marijuana and exactly two terrorists, while allowing possibly
hundreds, maybe thousands, of our enemies to infiltrate our borders. Don't
you feel safer or, are their priorities a little skewed? Maybe the entire
government needs a makeover, starting at the top.

Mike Plylar

Kremmling, Colo.