To the editor:

Is no one willing to look at both sides of an issue? If anyone remembers, prior to 9-11, the FBI was being criticized as a racial-profiling and bigoted agency run by a religious fanatic. What would the public have thought if suddenly 20 young Arab males were arrested under a vague charge of conspiracy?

Newsweek’s cover blatantly suggests “The 9/11 terrorists the CIA should have caught.” They suggest that the CIA should have notified the Immigration and Naturalization Service or FBI when they entered the United States. Why didn’t they? The magazine doesn’t admit it, but until that time, the CIA only knew their names, which only later were connected to al-Qaida.

I’m usually not one to label media outlets as biased, but clearly Newsweek and other news sources are more keen on a good mud-slinging story than the truth. Blaming FBI and CIA leadership for miscommunication solves nothing. Throwing out experienced members of the intelligence community solves nothing. Abandoning reasoned analysis in favor of partisan back-stabbing and libel solves nothing.

If the American public expects the FBI and CIA to collaborate one-on-one and crack down on terrorism, they better get used to a police state where the government can tap any phone and arrest or assassinate any “suspected member” of a terrorist group. Is that what we want? It’s a Catch-22 for Bush, who is either “ignoring signs and taking no action against perceived threats” or a fascist control freak. It’s up to the left to decide what they want to label him.

Andrew Sneegas,

Lawrence