some letters today in the des moines register worth mentioning:

Don't trust Ashcroft with our civil liberties
Foreign nationals are immediately affected by the Patriot Act limitations on civil liberties.

If we, like David Yepsen in his Aug. 21 column, "Ashcroft's Defense Is Simple: Patriot Act Works," repeat without question Attorney General John Ashcroft's unsupported claims the act would have prevented Sept. 11, then we will have no standing to complain when, for example, it is our relative who is held secretly and without formal charges.

It is more difficult to police a citizenry that has rights to privacy, assembly, due process, legal representation and free speech. But it wasn't these rights that prevented detection of the terrorists. Lack of resources, poor communication and degradation of investigative agencies under the Clinton administration all contributed to terrorists slipping through the cracks.

I do not ascribe bad intentions to Ashcroft, President Bush or any legislator, but the act was passed in haste in response to an emergency. Now that we have had time to reflect, we need to decide how many liberties we are willing to give up in the name of security and which principles our troops are dying for in Iraq.

Lori Chesser
Des Moines.

*****

I wasn't surprised to see David Yepsen go to bat for John Ashcroft and his liberty-stomping Patriot Act.

Nor was I surprised Yepsen - like many in our sad-excuse for a "free" press - failed to mention the Domestic Security Enhancement Act (aka: Patriot Act II), which is Ashcroft's latest attempt to use the threat of terrorism as an excuse to strip away more of our individual liberties.

I may be one of those "well-meaning" civil libertarians Yepsen brushes aside, but when Ashcroft sent his secret first draft of the act to Capitol Hill, it contained a section he explicitly titled: "Suspension of the Writ of Habeas Corpus."

And this is the guy Yepsen thinks Americans should trust with their precious liberties.

I don't think so.

Steve Hosch
Gilbert.

*****

Attorney General John Ashcroft has been abusing the Patriot Act from day one.

Since its passage, hundreds of non-citizens have been not only detained, but imprisoned for months at a time without access to their lawyers and without knowing the charges against them.

No, the U.S. Department of Justice is not likely to truncate your civil liberties, David Yepsen, but there are thousands of resident non-citizens who are not so lucky. Not only is there potential for abuse, there have been egregious violations of both civil liberties and due process since this law came into effect.

Alex Body
Polk City.