HILO >> President Bush is headed toward war with Iraq in an atmosphere of fear and secrecy, famed White House correspondent Helen Thomas told reporters yesterday at the University of Hawaii-Hilo. Famed reporter
Inouye in Bush policy dispute
blasts Bush secrecyBy Rod Thompson
rthompson@starbulletin.comThomas sees the source of Americans' fear as fellow Americans, not Iraq.
"We're so afraid of being called unpatriotic," said Thomas, who has been a reporter and, currently, a columnist for 59 years.
"There are no peacemakers, really. That goes for publishers, too. I think they were afraid. The press is rolling over and playing dead," she said at a luncheon with reporters.
After the luncheon she gave a speech to more than 500 students and others.
The Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks gave President Bush "tremendous tailwind," Thomas said.
"It's a springboard to do whatever he wants," she said.
After 9/11, "I think it was necessary to retaliate," Thomas said. "But I don't think it's necessary to start a new war."
Iraq's Saddam Hussein "certainly is a horrible, horrible dictator. But there are lots of them in the world," she said. "The guy is totally contained. We know everything that moves on the surface."
Thomas, who has covered every president since John F. Kennedy, said: "I think this administration is the most secretive that I have covered. They don't want to tell you anything. We have a right to know almost everything."
Meanwhile, rights are being eroded at home, she said.
"I think (Attorney General John) Ashcroft goes to bed every night and he thinks, 'What can I take away from the American people today?'"
Among his actions or proposals have been increased wiretaps, gathering information on library books that people check out, and holding people without access to their families or a lawyer, she said.
Federal courts are trying to hold the line against these actions, Thomas said.
In Cincinnati, she said, federal appeals judge Damon J. Keith ruled against secret deportations of aliens, saying, "Democracy dies behind closed doors," Thomas noted.
But Congress has lagged in speaking out, she said.
"When are the American people going to wake up and speak out?" she asked. "Until you put power back in the hands of the people, you're not going to get a courageous Congress," she said.