Correspondence
Correspondence ANTIDEMOCRATIC? IN "JOHN KERRY, REACTIONARY" (July 19), Tom Donnelly and Vance Serchuk write: "Richard Kerry spent much of his professional life as a foreign service officer, and...
...All letters should be addressed: Correspondence Editor THE WEEKLY STANDARD 1150 17th St., NW, Suite 505 Washington, DC 20036...
...Sometimes they even pay the ultimate price, and their names are carved into a wall at the State Department that no one but their families, colleagues, and C-SPAN ever visit...
...PEDRO N. TABORGA Great Falls, VA REUEL MARC GERECHT'S article on the CIA reminded me of a book I read some 30 years ago, called The Game of the Foxes...
...This would have given him a better chance of siphoning off some African-American votes from Kerry...
...In the aftermath of 9/11, the Patriot Act breached this barrier, although many prominent Democrats are now calling for that legislation to be scaled back, if not outright repealed...
...His article exhaustively details the causes of our recent intelligence failures, and also correctly posits the need for a change in the bureaucratic culture at Langley...
...Three issues in particular stand out...
...JOHN A. DEGROAT Landenberg, PA THE WEEKLY STANDARD welcomes letters to the editor...
...But our instinctive aversion to spy agencies endured...
...our belief regarding espionage, in the famous phrase attributed to Secretary of State Stimson, was that "gentlemen do not read other gentlemen's mail...
...And, to date, he has not vetoed any of the pork-filled appropriations bills that have crossed his desk...
...After the war, in order to counter the Soviet challenge, we established the CIA...
...Thousands of working-level foreign service officers are promoting and implementing America's agenda every day on every continent around the world...
...KEREM BILGE Alexandria, VA SPIES LIKE US REUEL MARC GERECHT'S diagnosis of the CIA's institutional ailments ("The Sorry State of the CIA," July 19) is right on the mark...
...For Donnelly and Serchuk to so casually and thoughtlessly smear these patriotic Americans as "antidemocratic" is beneath contempt...
...You may also fax letters: (202) 293-4901 or email: editor@weeklystandard.com...
...In 1979-81, American foreign service officers were among those held hostage for 444 days in Iran...
...Letters will be edited for length and clarity and must include the writer's name, address, and phone number...
...indeed, many officers who told the truth about Stalin's tyranny during the 1930s did so at great professional risk...
...Indeed, over the years we put up a communications barrier between the FBI and the CIA, to prevent the federal government from spying on Americans...
...The president has missed opportunity after opportunity to make points that would help his candidacy...
...Americans know that foreign espionage is often a necessary evil...
...Bush may be genuinely trying to "change the tone" in Washington, but by doing so he's needlessly hurting his chances for reelection...
...Were all these officials antidemocratic...
...What about the foreign service officers who fought for the release of political prisoners behind the iron curtain during the twilight days of the cold War...
...Bush has failed to fight for school vouchers, which are overwhelmingly supported by inner-city parents...
...ROBERT L. WICHTERMAN Lancaster, PA WHY BUSH IS LOSING THE ARTICLE BY Jeffrey Bell and Frank Cannon, "Why Bush is Losing" (July 19), made several excellent points...
...IN "JOHN KERRY, REACTIONARY" (July 19), Tom Donnelly and Vance Serchuk write: "Richard Kerry spent much of his professional life as a foreign service officer, and seems to have imbibed the antidemocratic habits of that trade...
...Spying will always carry with it the implicit connotation of dirty dealing and scheming...
...The author, Ladislas Farago, wrote about pre-World War II intelligence organizations in Germany, Great Britain, and the united States...
...Where do Donnelly and Serchuk get the idea that the foreign service trade is inherently "antidemocratic...
...During the following two decades, foreign service workers were murdered by Islamic terrorists in, among other places, Beirut, Kenya, and Tanzania...
...He noted that prior to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States did not have a spy agency...
...That we don't always spy as well as other countries is testament, in large part, to our undying belief in individual liberty, justice, and truth...
...I would ask him: What, exactly, should the next CIA director do in the first 36 months of his tenure...
...He has yet to truly use the bully pulpit to fight for any of his judicial nominees...
...But I was disappointed that Gerecht didn't offer any specific policy prescriptions for reforming the agency...
...If Gerecht writes a follow-up piece answering that question, there is at least one reader eagerly looking forward to it...
...What Bell and Cannon should have added, however, is that Bush is running a terribly unimaginative campaign...
...They often perform their duties under incredibly trying circumstances...
...But it is also an activity with which we would rather not be too closely connected...
...Are the foreign service officers currently implementing President Bush's policies in Kabul and Baghdad antidemocratic...
Vol. 9 • August 2004 • No. 44
