Letter to the editor

Bernard Kerik has been nominated to head the department that is supposed to keep our homeland safe. So what do we know about him? We know he was in office heading the NY City police department on 9/11, and that he quit soon after to write a book. While Bush gives him credit for cutting crime in the city, most of the reforms that led to the lowered crime rate were put in place by his predecessor, Bill Bratton.

Then he went to Iraq to train policemen there, and left after 3 months with no explanation for his departure. Soon it was discovered that the background checks on the newly hired Iraqi police were so defective that many of them had to be fired. He does speak a little Arabic, having worked for the Saudi royal family’s hospital system, and he gave a very partisan speech in support of Bush at the Republican National Convention.

But then, competence is not a requirement to serve in the Bush Cabinet. Look who is staying! Donald Rumsfeld will continue as Secretary of Defense, due to his remarkably incompetent waging of our incursions in Afghanistan and Iraq. I feel so safe...NOT!

Sent to Monitor, Foster's, Portsmouth Herald and Union Leader