Misfires in the War on Terror

In a story about foreigners detained at Guantanamo, I read, “U.S. military panels reviewing the detention of foreigners as enemy combatants would be allowed to use evidence gained through torture in deciding whether to keep them imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, the government said in court.” Just a few pages later, in a story about Lori Berenson, who received a 20-year prison sentence in Peru, I read that her “legal team led by former U.S. Atty. Gen. Ramsey Clark” argued that her trial “failed to meet international standards for fairness and that she faced hostile judges who relied on coerced testimony and tainted evidence.” Am I missing some nuance here?

Niel Lynch

Escondido

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Re “U.S. Says Terrorism Net Must Be Wide,” Dec. 2: The deputy associate attorney general’s assertions that a Swiss little old lady who gave to an orphanage or an English teacher who taught English to the son of an Al Qaeda leader could be detained by the U.S. government sounds more like fascism than Americanism.

Donald L. Kennedy

Garden Grove