A heroic stand for the Constitution

Re “Panel told of a sickbed face-off,” May 16

If only Atty. Gen. Alberto R. Gonzales could learn from the example of former Deputy Atty. Gen. James B. Comey and former Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft: The client of the attorney general is not George W. Bush but the United States, and his duty is to defend the Constitution, not kowtow to Karl Rove. He will not, of course. More likely, he will claim that when he burst into Ashcroft’s hospital room in the intensive care unit, it was a get-well card he was carrying in the envelope rather than an order approving an illegal wiretapping program.

I never thought I’d say it, but Ashcroft’s drawing himself up from his sickbed to refuse to sign an illegal order makes him a hero. So does Comey’s courage and cool head in racing to the hospital to stop the present attorney general from subverting the Constitution.

Move over, Paul Revere, you have company.

DENNIS G. MARTIN

Santa Monica

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It’s stunning that Comey had to rush to the bedside of a sick, postoperative and heavily medicated Ashcroft to protect him from being coerced into signing a document by two Bush enforcers -- one of whom is our current attorney general. It’s even more stunning that FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III had to instruct his agents to protect Comey from being removed from Ashcroft’s bedside.

But most stunning of all is that Comey’s testimony makes it clear that, for 2 1/2 years, President Bush conducted a secret spying program on American citizens that was considered illegal by his own top law enforcement officials. Nearly three years later, we still know nothing about what was done or to whom. Isn’t it time we found out?

KATY TERLINDEN

Long Beach

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A wise friend claims that “The Godfather” explains everything there is to know in life. After reading Comey’s testimony about the confrontation between him and Gonzales at Ashcroft’s hospital bed, has the Bush administration slipped into a cheap imitation of that great hospital scene where Vito Corleone is saved from the other mob by his son Michael? Can someone now send Gonzales a fish with the Bill of Rights shoved in its mouth?

CLIFF CABALLERO

Valley Village