Pubdate: Mon, 01 Oct 2001 Source: Herald-Dispatch, The (WV) Copyright: 2001 The Herald-Dispatch Contact: http://www.herald-dispatch.com/hdinfo/letters.html Website: http://www.hdonline.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1454 Author: David L DuVall WE NEED TO BE CAREFUL OF OUR CIVIL LIBERTIES Like everyone else, I believe we need to find the person or persons responsible for the Sept. 11 attacks and bring them to justice. But we need to be cautious that in this time of great emotion, we not allow civil liberties to be trampled upon. It would be easy to justify suspending some of the protections we enjoy, as proposed by the U.S. attorney general, in an attempt to find those responsible for this atrocity. Once these protections are gone, we may never get them back. President Bush has declared war on all terrorism. This is like a war on poverty or a war on drugs -- it can't be won. Does a war on terrorism include the Irish Republican Army and the Timothy McVeighs who live among us? In not specifying an enemy, we could be engaged in mini-Vietnams all over the world for years to come. This president squandered a massive budget surplus in approximately seven months on the job. Imagine what he could do while looking for the boogeyman. David L. DuVall Huntington - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom