MB Civic

To the Editor:

Re ”Rushing Off a Cliff” (editorial, Sept. 28):

You say that the broad definition of ”illegal enemy combatant” in the antiterrorism bill railroaded through Congress could subject legal residents of the United States ”to summary arrest and indefinite detention with no hope of appeal” and that ”the president could give the power to apply this label to anyone he wanted.”

Detainees would lose the basic right to challenge their imprisonment, and anyone could be locked up forever, with no reason given and no notification to friends and family.

Many of us are bitterly opposed to the current administration and have angered those who support the disaster in Iraq. What is to prevent letters, lies and innuendoes from being sent to the authorities accusing us of being illegal enemy combatants and a danger to the country?

What redress would we have? I tell myself that this could never happen here, but I fear we are on a very slippery slope.

Mabel J. Dudeney
Norwalk, Conn., Sept. 28, 2006

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To the Editor:

Re “Pirates of the Mediterranean,” by Robert Harris (Op-Ed, Sept. 30):

President Bush’s relentless fearmongering has succeeded: I am truly terrified.

I fear the destruction of our precious democracy more than a terrorist attack. And frightened Americans, like the ancient Romans, appear shockingly willing to sacrifice their Constitution in return for the illusion of security.

The statistical likelihood of anyone being personally harmed by terrorists is low. But, by contrast, it is a 100 percent certainty that the loss of our rights and freedoms will permanently injure each and every one of us. And, contrary to what the president wants us to think, it won’t guarantee our physical safety.

Defeating the terrorists, which the Bush administration holds out as justification for everything it does, is a false promise. We are at risk and will remain at risk. We need to understand that risk and learn to live with it by working on rational, fact-based and nonpolitical ways to manage it.

Cringing in fear and being terrified by our own leaders won’t get us there.

Yvonne Marcuse
Princeton, N.J., Sept. 30, 2006