When I read letters like "Scanners can save lives" and "Full-body scans needed" (Jan. 8), I die a little inside.

If we are going to concede that the government’s within its rights to make us be virtually nude to fly somewhere, what’s the point of having a Fourth Amendment? What is the future of our notion that we are private citizens? After such an act of submission becomes legitimate, what will be next in the name of our wrong-headed quest to make us safe from boogeymen?

The Sept. 11 attacks were devastating to us all but, chances are, it was a one-time grand slam that’s not going to be replicated (and it won’t be because we have full-body scanners). And the terrorism death toll in the U.S. over the past decade pales in comparison to other things that kill us. I’m certain neither author would dare consider how many thousands of lives we’d save if we reduced the speed limit on the freeways to 30 mph and 15 mph everywhere else … because that would be a great inconvenience. So, there is a notion that there’s an acceptable loss of life associated with our way of living.

We profess to be "the land of the free and home of the brave," but we are scared and willing to give up our rights for false comfort. It grieves me to read someone who has sworn an oath to uphold our Constitution feel that our Bill of Rights is only good for making things easier for terrorists.

"Freedom and safety are never free"? Freedom doesn’t mean safe; freedom means free. Want to win the war on terror? Let us be unintimidated, let’s continue to live free, and show our saboteurs there is nothing they can do to make themselves relevant in our eyes.

Spc. Douglas NobleNassir Wa Salam, Iraq

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