As someone who finds themselves in the middle of the road when it comes to politics, and not being corrupted by what political party I belong to, I laughed when I read Ian Thompson's letter ("Republicans to blame for threats to security," Sept. 11).

Let me first say, it was President Bush who started strengthening our defense and our military as soon as he took office.

It was people like Ian who doubted his motives for doing this. Then the worst attack in our nation's history occurred, and the same people said he did not do enough. Bill Clinton knew about threats to security, but instead of dealing with them, he engaged in oral sex.

People like Ian had no problem with Clinton invading Iraq during his term, and agreed that Saddam was a tryant who needed to be ousted.

Now in a post 9/11 world, we are not supposed to do anything to him.

As far as who used 9/11 for political gain, I haven't seen anybody from any party do it, except for Hillary Clinton.