Constitutional Infringement

Explaining the Bush administration's ban on taking pictures of returning coffins, the President's spokesman Trent Duffy claimed that the "sensitivity and privacy of families of the fallen must be the first priority." Wrong, the first priority is to bring American soldiers home alive. Americans must be allowed to see the realities of war, but Bush knows that images of death will diminish support for the war. This fact alone, not respect for the dead, is behind the ban. George Bush claims to be a lover of freedom, yet knowingly violates the free press guaranties of the First Amendment. Paradoxically it is Washington, not Havana, denigrating human rights in Guantanamo, Cuba. Five-hundred-ninety-five so-called "enemy combatants" will be held indefinitely, without trial or charges, according to the Defense Department's Paul Butler. Our President denies these prisoners the protections of the Bill of Rights and the Geneva Conventions. And what of Jose Padilla, the American citizen arrested on American soil, who has been held for two years without trial, charges, or counsel in clear violation of the Fifth and Sixth Amendments. Our President, referring to al Qaeda and the September 11 hijackers, declared on April 23, "See, we love freedom. They hate freedom," a statement he cannot square with his disregard for the United States' Constitution. Later in the same speech, Bush came out with a chilling piece of newspeak: "Because we acted, freedom is rising in the heart of the Middle East. Because we acted, the world is more peaceful and America is more secure." Because we acted, Sharia is rising in the heart of the Middle East. Because we acted, the world is incensed and America is more despised. Our government has become inimical to the liberties won in 1776, I fear an America after another four years of this administration.

Michael Davidson Jr9 Welch DrPlymouth, NH 03264

536-4058