To the editor:

During World War II, then-Sen. Harry Truman started a watchdog committee looking for, and finding, illegal war profiteering. Truman asked hard questions and didn’t let up until he had answers, thereby bringing guilty people and businesses to justice. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff George C. Marshall said that Truman’s efforts were worth multiple divisions of troops to the war effort.

I suppose one could be inspired that the Justice Department, headed by Alberto Gonzales, sees Americans as being so much more honest than the World War II generation, deservedly seen as one of our greatest. I can only imagine that this is why, as stated in a congressional subcommittee June 19, there’s not been a single conviction of war profiteering against anyone in six years, although allegations have been raised that “tens of millions of taxpayer dollars – and perhaps far more – have gone into the pockets of contractors who overbilled for services, paid bribes and received kickbacks.”

Oh, for another Harry Truman!

Daniel Patrick Schamle,

Lawrence