TERROR IN OKLAHOMA CITY

"For those concerned over the erosion of personal freedoms, forget it. We've already lost the most basic one of all: freedom from fear."

Philip G. Plotica Gettysburg, Pennsylvania

Thank you for your in-depth coverage of the bombing in my hometown [COVER, May 1]. But no words or pictures will ever convey the great, hollow sadness that we here will carry with us forever. Even though I understand the need to place blame, the political rhetoric about conservative talk shows and fingers pointed every which way seemed profane, even grotesque when bodies of babies and fellow citizens were still being pulled from the rubble. We citizens here, the victims and their families have nothing to do with Waco, with militias or G. Gordon Liddy. We simply went to work one day and found our lives and hearts blown to bits.

Jan Kordisch Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

This bombing, in the heart of the U.S., opened many eyes. Knowing now that no city is exempt from such a disaster, we can learn how to be on alert and maybe protect our nation from such a horrible thing's happening again.

Maggie Brown, age 15 Louisville, Kentucky

Tragically, we have witnessed in Oklahoma City the logical derivative of the rhetoric of Rush Limbaugh and his ilk. Please, people, "the government" isn't the enemy; the government is us. Attacking it attacks all of us. If it doesn't work, let's fix it.

Joe Morse Bellingham, Washington

Forget intelligent discussion on gun rights for individual citizens. Forget inquiries into the government's botching of Waco. Forget any rhetoric at all on ways to reduce the scope of government in our lives. For now and the foreseeable future, anyone (of any race, creed, gender or religion) who even brings up these topics will be accused of abetting baby killers. So we can chalk up another victory for the Oklahoma City bombers. In addition to being vicious terrorists and murderers of innocent children, they are mind-bendingly stupid individuals.

Rodney Stansfield Garden Grove, California

We have serious questions about the actions the government has taken attacking so-called white supremacist Randy Weaver, the Branch Davidians and others. The fact that Weaver was tried and acquitted in court is rarely mentioned by mainstream media. Yet those of us who raise legitimate questions about the moves against Weaver and the Davidians are met with accusations of racism and hate mongering as the government and media attempt to evade any accountability. And you wonder why we are frightened and suspicious of our government?

Melinda Monaghan Rough and Ready, California

Politicians ranging from the occupant of the Oval Office to the local dog-catcher agree on one issue: it's high time to put some additional teeth into the laws of the land to prevent evil assassins from committing their heinous acts. Nonsense! I am confident that sufficient laws are in place to incarcerate these criminals, when convicted through due process, for the remainder of their lives.

Robert W. Miller Jacksonville, Florida

I urge the government to fix the real problems that cause people to get this angry. If we eliminate the true violation of our rights, then all we have to fight is right-wing extremist paranoia, and we can save a lot of lives.

Marc Perkel Springfield, Missouri Via America Online

In the 1960s and early 1970s, it was left-wing extremists who blew up buildings to protest our involvement in the Vietnam War. They were dissatisfied with the U.S. government. Twenty years later, right-wing extremists blow up a building to protest the government's trying to disarm a religious cult in Waco, Texas. How ironic that the anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War fell so close to the bombing in Oklahoma City.

Mark E. Sadak Munising, Michigan

Terrorism is not new to americans, and we have no one to blame but ourselves for its persistence. By our own actions or inaction we perpetuate the legacy of violence in our society.

Lewis Higgins Beaverton, Oregon AOL: JM Lewis H

Fingers of blame are being pointed at conservative Americans. I am a conservative, and I am frightened by the likes of Timothy McVeigh and the militias that teeter on the edge of terrorism. These people are far beyond the scope of my beliefs. Paranoid anarchists have very little, if anything, in common with mainstream Americans of a conservative stripe. Tougher law enforcement is a hallmark issue with most conservatives and Republicans, and we favor greater empowerment of federal authorities to nail these fiends before they have a chance to strike again.

Mark R. Voss Cottage Grove, Minnesota

I used to be proud of being a career civil servant; then I became apologetic; now I'm just plain scared. Even though the U.S. has freer elections, less corruption and lower taxes than almost any other country on earth, there are a shocking number of Americans who believe that blowing up a federal building is a blow for freedom. The antigovernment mood of this country has gone too far.

Joseph White Richmond, Virginia

Haven't most of the citizens of this country heard preachers, radio talk-show hosts and politicians successfully use hate as their principal theme? And who or what is it that they want us to detest? Environmentalists, feminists, homosexuals, criminals, aliens (legal and illegal), communists (though not many are left), liberals, other religions, people of color, government, atheists, welfare mothers, educators, vegetarians -- the list goes on and on. Many of us fit into these categories. How do we stop these vicious random acts of violence? It's simple -- we stop the hate.

Martin Good Santa Barbara, California

EDUCATION IS THE GOAL

Philip Weiss's article on extremist movements, "Outcasts Digging In for the Apocalypse" [COVER, May 1], while attempting to alert your readers to some of the darker elements in our society, ironically generates its own form of paranoia. Most disturbing is the simple insertion of "Christian home-schoolers" into the list of members of the far-right coalition. Of the families I know who educate their children at home, all do so with the goal of providing the best possible education for their children, not as a contribution to some seedy plot. Come on!

Wayne Larson St. Louis, Missouri Via America Online

RACIST REACTION

I am a Muslim. in Buffalo, New York, as in other cities across our nation, Muslim communities came under attack immediately after the bombing [COVER, May 1]. Women who wore Islamic head scarves were intimidated; families, mosques and schools got bomb and death threats. This is exactly the kind of extremism that led to this vicious act in the first place. If we rush blindly toward hatred and violence, what separates "us" from "them"? Did all those people in Oklahoma City, those children, die for nothing? There are lessons in this.

Khadija Bartholomew Lockport, New York

Americans showed their true colors as racists during the first 48 hours after the disaster, when they described the perpetrators as aliens and foreigners and called for tougher immigration laws.

Margarita de Flores San Bernardino, California

JUSTICE FOR THE BOMBERS

Here's the proper punishment for the Oklahoma bombers [COVER, May 1]: spending the rest of their lives viewing images of their victims and hearing the sounds of the anguish and grief they have caused. To punish these criminals by death would be hollow. They must live with what they have done-24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

Douglas D. Corbitt Conway, Arkansas AOL: DCorbitt

I don't want to see where and how the bombing suspects grew up. I don't want to read about the rationale for their acts. I don't want to watch their trial on TV. I don't want media blitzes slowing up the judicial process. I want these people indicted. I want them tried. If they are guilty, then I want them convicted and given due punishment. Give them no voice. Let the explosion be the last sound we ever hear from them.

Tom Imondi Sidney, Ohio

ABOUT THE COVER

How tragic to display the face of accused killer Timothy McVeigh on your cover [May 1]! Never give such a despicable person this much publicity.

Karen O'Neill Hillsboro, Texas AOL: KarenOOO

Surely a photograph that portrayed courage, faith or even grief would have been better.

George D. Lawrence Jr. Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Via America Online

VIETNAM 20 YEARS LATER

Your otherwise insightful report on Vietnam's economic revival [COVER, April 24] misrepresents the extent of religious freedom there. Vietnam -- perhaps Asia's most spiritual country (it is overwhelmingly Buddhist) -- is entering the fifth decade of the communist government's campaign to eradicate all independent worship. Authorities still persecute religious leaders who dare to organize outside government-controlled churches. Roman Catholicism is decapitated by Hanoi's blocking the Vatican's appointment of bishops and imposing tight restrictions on those allowed to attend seminaries. Protestant church leaders who hold unauthorized meetings have been hit with staggering fines. In the past three years, the Puebla Institute, a human-rights group focusing on religious-freedom issues, has documented the detention of more than 100 Buddhist monks and Christian leaders.

P.H. Mullen Jr., Research Director Puebla Institute Washington

In spite of two decades of a roiled psyche and the thousand tears I've swallowed, I am still afflicted with the "Vietnam syndrome." Like many of my Vietnamese counterparts over age 30, I am scarred by obfuscated American policy. Today Vietnamese are living in the shadow of America's failed mission, doubting the very principles upon which the U.S. was founded. The U.S. can cry about its 58,000 dead, but what about the 3 million Vietnamese lives that were wasted? America might have lost a war, but we lost a country.

Thai A. Nguyen-Khoa Oakland, California