It's obvious from "Cheney's approach won't make us safer" (YourViews, June 19) that Bush/Cheney derangement syndrome is alive and well. Spouting ill-informed opinions is one thing, playing loose with facts is quite another. Jack Hobbs' talking points cannot go unchallenged.

Fact: I clearly distinguished between pre- and post-9/11 security measures in my earlier letter ("Preventing attacks worth celebrating," May 29), stating that the Homeland Security Department was created under Bush /Cheney to address the woefully inadequate conditions that existed under Clinton.

Fact: The United States doesn't torture. The enhanced interrogation techniques employed post-9/11 were known and approved by the full Congress. They were reserved for exactly three high-value - not all - detainees.

Former CIA directors, including Obama appointee, Leon Panetta, confirm they were effective in preventing additional major attacks on us.

Fact: Everything/anything we do is used as a recruiting tool by these terrorist fanatics. All that matters is that we're not dead and they haven't overrun us yet. Recruiting tool enough.

Fact: The perpetrators of Abu Ghraib were the exception. They were caught, they were punished, end of story.

Fact: Gitmo was created under Bush/Cheney precisely to end the program of renditions signed into existence by - guess who? - Bill Clinton in 1995 because he didn't have the stomach to deal with terrorist prisoners himself.

Fact: Anywhere from 45 to 70 of those "poor innocent shepherds" that were detained and released from Gitmo have already been killed, recaptured or otherwise confirmed as being back on the battlefield or plotting additional attacks. Imagine that.

Jim Reich, Bloomington