Which is it?

To the editor:

Let me see if I’ve got this straight. In an article on page 4A of the Nov. 16 Lawrence Journal-World, the Bush administration threatened to veto a defense spending bill passed by the Senate 98-0, “because it includes a prohibition against cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment of detainees.” Yet when another article on page 9A in the same paper reported 173 Iraqi detainees were malnourished and showing signs of torture, the Bush administration said, “We don’t practice torture, and we don’t believe that others should practice torture.”

I don’t remember any administration ever offering conflicting positions on a policy on the same day, but then nobody ever accused our president of being too smart either. Perhaps you better tell us again, George, just why is it you think we should trust you?

Jerry Lyons,

Lawrence