The letter by "proud progressive" Ian Thompson ("Republicans to blame for threats to security," Sept. 11) was a reassuring reminder that slapstick comedy is alive and well in America.

I couldn't help but wonder why Mr. Thompson would want to mislead people by identifying himself as anything but a typical left-wing zealot.

However, it does not surprise me that he still places blame for the September 11, 2001 tragedy on the person that liberals are bred to hate.

Mr. Thompson failed to remind us that President Clinton had eight years and numerous opportunities to bring Osama bin Laden to justice.

However, his attention was apparently directed elsewhere, such as efforts to cripple our intelligence-gathering capabilities.

His "reforms" resulted in the firing of nearly a third of the CIA's informants, and often left as few as two CIA officers in any given country in the Middle East.

And let us not forget President Clinton's refusal to act when Sudan offered to turn bin Laden over to the United States on five separate occasions.

Yet liberals like Mr. Thompson have the gall to accuse a president who was in office for less than a year of not being watchful.

While our country observes the two-year anniversary of the 9/11 tragedy, it's comforting to know that we can all get a good laugh from reading the irrelevant tirades of people who, among other things, still believe the election of 2000 was "stolen."