To the editor:

This is the most mendacious, conniving, secretive presidential administration that I can remember. In their effort to privatize, proselytize, and militarize, they have lied, stonewalled, misinformed, and have threatened those who would beg to differ with them.

Why we give the president and his aides such a pass amazes me. Are we simply too stunned by the malign acts of 9-11? Is it the case that this administration, rather than appealing to our best instincts, has instead chosen to manipulate us by manipulating our level of fear? If we are afraid enough — of terrorist attacks or their imminence — are we more likely to drown in the neap tide of lies this administration continues to tell us?

In our hearts I think that we sense the truth, but because of fear, dare not speak it. The pretexts that led to the war were known by many to be lies when they were offered. Every step we have taken in Iraq has been along a footpath of fabrication. But worse than the misinformation and mendacity is the mess we have created in the Middle East, and for our troops.

We simply cannot have another four years of this administration, and not just because of their mis-leading us into war, but also because of their failed stewardship — of the environment, of the poor and dispossessed, of children, of civil liberties, and most important, of the core values of democracy — social and economic justice, and the provision of the general weal.

Dennis Saleebey,

Lawrence