George,

I am struck by the media hype of the anthrax scare ... every comment is usually followed by, "there doesn't seem to be any major outbreak or danger, and health authorities feel it is well under control." "It is not a contagious disease and treatable."

I think the terrorists would be far more menacing releasing colonies of killer bees!

It does, however, keep the focus off those agencies in the executive division of the government for their complete failure to inform other departments of what they had in their files. For example, the FBI had "watch lists" and "wanted lists" of some of the same individuals who showed up at Logan, Newark and Dulles International airports on September 11th! The bitter irony is now the FBI is bragging about the fact that these lists are now in the hands of law enforcement agencies, airline ticket agents, check-in personnel etc. After the horse left the barn.

The CIA had two individuals in custody that had aroused suspician when they were taking flight simulator training on how to STEER big passenger jets! Eureka!

A report filed with the FAA, by a former pilot, described in exquisite detail the ease with which one could bring guns, hand grenades, explosives aboard planes at Logan International ..... His success rate was nine out of ten! He also went on to list other terminals equally lax, including Dulles and Newark! ... The response he received from the FAA was "thank you, we will take it under advisement and pass it along to the Administration." Supposedly, it reached Dick Cheney's desk, (we'll never know!)

Both the report by VP Gore and the Hart-Rudman report, both warning of the dangerous gap in airline security, were completely ignored by the Bush Administration.

And, if this isn't enough, there are those in the GOP and the Administration blaming it all on the former Clinton Administration! ... I cannot imagine the commanding officer of a ship blaming his predecessor because his ship ran aground. The Navy surely wouldn't accept that excuse ....... the sonar operator of the sub USS Greenville blamed his inattention to the distractions of on-board visitors, however, the commanding officer (with an outstanding record) is now the EX commanding officer!

Harry Truman said it best,"The buck stops here".

So the Great Pretender grabs the media's attention with his tough talk and speculation, and the real culprits escape scrutiny ... I guess they learned from Reagan's escaping responsibility after the Marine barrack was blown to rubble in 1983 and 241 of our finest were murdered and scores maimed and injured .. In spite of the fact that Lebanon was at a fevered pitch for terrorism and almost daily hostage-taking, the terrorists drove their truck past a wide open gate and an unarmed guard, parked their truck and detonated one of the largest non-nuclear explosions in history ,,, Reagan invaded Grenada and the media all but forgot the tragedy in Beirut! Very clever.

Write your representative and express your outrage. Don't expect much from the media.

Harry Tenney (electronic mail, October 16, 2001).