Pubdate: Thu, 30 May 2002
Source: Colorado Springs Independent Newsweekly (CO)
Copyright: 2002 Colorado Springs Independent
Contact:  http://www.csindy.com/csindy/current/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1536

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.
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MAP posted-by: Larry Stevens