Warnings on Hijackings and Fund-Raiser Photo

Re “Bush Told of Likely Hijacks,” May 16: President Bush knew that Osama bin Laden-sponsored airplane hijackings were a possibility at least one month before 9/11. That briefing came when our CEO-president was on his monthlong vacation in Texas. His spin doctors said they didn’t know the planes would be used as missiles. Oh, as long as the planes were simply hijacked that was acceptable to this White House. It looks as if nothing was done.

Ari Fleischer says the appropriate agencies were notified. Who, those jokers in airport security who don’t even know when the metal detectors are turned off? Fleischer’s spin rings very hollow. Why has it taken eight months for this story to surface, via a congressional investigation?

Last week Bush and his party began a fund-raising drive showing three of his defining moments, which included a photo of him in Air Force One on 9/11 talking to the vice president. My three photos of his defining moments are: 1) accepting Enron contributions; 2) the smoking New York City skyline; 3) the photo of him visiting a kindergarten when he was told of the attack, when the word “incompetence” can be seen on his face. Hail to the commander-incompetent! Bush sold us Californians out to Enron and his other vested energy interests. Now it appears he let down the country. If there were ever grounds for impeachment, dereliction of duty seems like a fair charge.

Martin Jadus

Long Beach

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U.S. and Italian officials were warned of the threat of a hijacking and suicide flight into the Group of 8 meeting in Genoa in July. So Bush can’t deny he never heard of the idea of suicide hijackers. Time will tell that they dropped the ball while panicking over Enron.

Chris Eann

Pasadena

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Why are we criticizing the FBI for lack of action before Sept. 11? If the FBI had presented all the information it had about potential terrorism before the attacks, would it have made any difference? Would we have agreed to our current actions and expenditures against terrorism? Not a chance.

Rather than criticizing the agency in hindsight, perhaps we should realize it was better attuned to the threats than we previously suspected. This is good news.

David L. Hagan

Pismo Beach

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Hindsight is wonderful, and it seems that many law enforcement critics and members of Congress are quick to jump on facts regarding piecemeal knowledge of potential terrorist attacks prior to 9/11. Members of Congress should stop being critical of the FBI and CIA and start focusing on how they can do a better job of crafting legislation to support law enforcement efforts, like increasing border security and immigration reform.

Yes, it’s easy to see the picture of a puzzle after the pieces are together, but give credit and support to members of the FBI and CIA for doing their best all the years we’ve lived in relative safety. It’s easy to point fingers after the fact, but for the safety of our nation, it’s not what we need.

Ken Domer

Orange

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This should keep forever silent all thoughts that it was better to have Bush than Al Gore.

George Clayton

Rowland Heights

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Re “Photo Fund-Raiser Causes a Flap,” May 15: Boy, Bush has blown it this time; I’m really steamed! How dare the Republicans raise campaign funds by using a photo of the president performing his duties? What’s wrong with the traditional fund-raising practices of renting White House bedrooms and pardoning felons?

Norm Swaton

Downey

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The Democrats should be elated that the Republicans are using the photo of George W. calling his vice president from the safety of Air Force One on Sept. 11. A perfect caption for the picture would be, “Gee, what should I do now?”

Louise Richardson

San Diego