The president and his advisers need a civics refresher

Regarding "President Fiercely Defends Wiretaps," (Dec. 20): After the indictment of Vice President Cheney's chief of staff Lewis "Scooter" Libby was announced, President Bush reportedly ordered White House personnel to take refresher instruction in ethics. With the revelation last week of the extralegal surveillance authorization that the president granted the National Security Agency, which in effect circumvented the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978, some additional classes might be in order.

How about a remedial course in Civics 101, held in the West Wing and mandatory from the top down?

It would appear that the president and his legal advisers played hooky in their formative education from classes that dealt with constitutional separation of powers and checks and balances, and this void suggests a deep-seated ignorance of the document we as Americans hold so dear.

Ever mindful of the need to be vigilant to thwart potential enemies who would threaten our national security, nothing justifies, even in the service of misdirected zeal, breaking of the law, especially by one sworn to uphold it.

Like the kid caught with his hand swelled with cookies in the cookie jar (read power grab), the abrogation of a law by secret fiat further defines the singular characteristic of this administration -- the overreach.

JIM HOHMAN
Shadyside

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Limitless Bush

It's always interesting to watch the president wax indignant following public exposition of another indignant corruption of our democratic principles by his White House.

His on-screen fulminations seem like well-staged sleight-of-hand to me. While we watch him froth about the beauty of illegal wiretapping, or stand untroubled by taxpayer-funded American torture, or continue to lie to us for our own good about something like what we should die for, the real stuff is happening off camera.

He's not really upset, or worried. He's just buying time for his boys to roll out Plan B, and get busy on Plan C, in case some joker has the nerve to start nosing around B.

The bottom line is, when honesty, integrity and the law are not obstacles, the sky's the limit in the pursuit of your agenda. This president considers the sky his limit.

C. DOUGHERTY
Mt. Lebanon

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A better world

Still, even after all the authoritative positive reports from Iraq (and Afghanistan), even after a vibrant seed of democracy has been forced -- by valiant American, British, Polish and Iraqi soldiers -- into earth made hard by the oppression and murder of tyrannical rule, still the "peace in our time" team steps out of its bubble long enough to deliver petitions calling for aid-the-enemy withdrawal time frames or flat-out demands for a military cut and run.

Leaving aside the likelihood that much of this pro-enemy activity is driven by an attempt to steal credit for a drawing down of troops that was logically due anyway, I still believe that some of these folks, were they properly informed, might decide to support this so-important fight and the courageous troops who are winning it.

I believe that a change in news source to one more balanced, such as the Fox Report and the O'Reilly Factor, might save some of these determined detractors from having to lie in years to come when asked if they were around to cheer when the world became a better place through the planting of democracy; when the murdered of 9/11 rose up, in the form of strong and focused leaders and warriors, and brought justice to their killers; when the world, via the strength and will of the most brave of its members, took a giant step forward.

WILLIAM M. STODDART
Brentwood

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Damages our soul

Like letter writer Dave Ross ("Cartoon a New Low," Dec. 16), I was disturbed by Rob Rogers' Dec. 10 cartoon showing President Bush and colleagues celebrating torture. Unlike Mr. Ross, I applaud Mr. Rogers; as a political cartoonist, he is supposed to illustrate unpalatable truths through graphical caricature. The truth in this case is that the Bush administration supports and condones torture. It should disturb us all.

The facts about the Bush administration's embrace of torture have emerged gradually, but the network of secret CIA prisons, renditions to foreign governments known for torture, deaths in U.S. custody, military and CIA reports documenting the use of waterboarding, stress positions, attack dogs, sexual humiliation, etc., are now well known. The administration's opposition to Sen. John McCain's legislation to explicitly ban torture removed whatever doubt could have remained.

Torture should be unacceptable to all Americans. Arguing that there have been greater torturers in the past, as Mr. Ross does, is no justification. Torture is wrong -- period. Nor does the war on terror justify torture. Defenders of torture typically use extreme, ticking-bomb scenarios, but once you start using torture, it becomes routinized and broadly applied, including inevitably to innocent people, as we have seen.

The recent concessions by the president on torture in the face of overwhelming congressional opposition are encouraging. I urge all readers to keep up the pressure on their representatives. If we become a nation that accepts torture as policy, we will have lost our national soul.

PHIL HAYES
Point Breeze

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Thanks, senator!

In the recent image-building TV and print ads in support of Sen. Rick Santorum, we are encouraged to call and thank him for all he's done to help Pennsylvanians.

Let's do it! Let's call the senator and thank him for his vote on the $40 billion budget-cutting bill on Wednesday that slashes $4.8 billion from the Medicaid budget alone ("Senate Approves Spending Cuts, 51-50," Dec. 22). This means services for the mentally ill, mentally retarded, the elderly and disabled will be greatly reduced again, while other targets, such as pharmaceutical companies and private insurers remain untouched.

Is this something we should thank him for? Get with it, Pennsylvania, these guys in Washington aren't for the little guy and seem to want to push the disadvantaged off the map.

BARBARA BRUNER
Latrobe