In Ms. Jensen's letter of Feb. 5, several statements were made that lacked understanding of facts.

Her assumption that American citizens were spied on solely on the "request" of President Bush isn't well founded. The fact is that Congress- both houses- approved and passed the Patriot Act that allowed suspected terrorist collaborators to be monitored. I would say that this was more than just a request.

Her assumption that the detainees at Guantanamo be given the same rights as American citizens is also off the mark.

In the first place, these people aren't citizens of the U.S. and therefore don't have the same rights. In fact, these people aren't even legitimate military personnel fighting for a sovereign country. They don't even wear uniforms for a particular army, therefore the term "enemy combatants." Since they don't represent any recognized national entity, even the Geneva Con-vention doesn't apply to them.

Our Constitution only concedes the rights inherent in it to citizens of this country, not to enemy combatants.

Jensen's implication that these combatants were plucked off the street is also far-reaching. These people are being kept in detention for a reason, and it's not because they stole a loaf of bread from the neighborhood market. She also indicated that these detainees haven't had a trial. Not true. Military trials were already scheduled and ready to proceed, but because of the "request" from President Obama to delay the trials for 120 days, everything was put on hold.

Now who's keeping people and doesn't care for anybody's sympathy? All they want to do is to get back to what they were doing before they were caught. They are willing, however, to use America's sense of fair play to get what they want.

As far as my support for President Bush is concerned, I didn't agree with some of his policies, but I do know that this country hasn't been attacked in seven years.

I, like every American, have the right to question the decisionmaking ability of any president. Elizabeth Buckner Thousand Oaks