Dear John Barrasso

Yesterday I got your most recent Barrasso Report. In this you noted that you are going to ask hard questions about the latest START negotiations, that Wyoming holds an important place in nuclear security.

Well, at least some of your constituents, who think about political issues, are wondering why you didn't just come right out and admit the fact that Warren AFB contributes to Wyoming's, and especially Cheyenne's, economy, and that your concern is that if that base is closed down, as the FFM so aptly noted, "Cheyenne would dry up and blow away."

I have friends whose job has been to sit underground for extended periods of time waiting for someone to tell them to push a button. These friends are intelligent citizens of this country and could be better employed within the military.

I would suggest that your concern for the potential closure of Warren AFB continue into asking yourself and the rest of us in this state the hard question of how we can diversify our economy meet such an occasion, rather than whether we ought to advocate continuing a program that is not necessarily useful, on any count.

If your concern truly is American security, it is your duty as a representative to our US Senate to do your homework, so to speak, regarding the nuclear issue. For instance, did you know that no one, aside from the US twice in Japan toward the end of WWII, has detonated a nuclear weapon purposely to kill another nation's people? That is despite the fact that a multitude of country's, many of whom are in disagreement with us on more than one political issue. And did you know that uranium and plutonium have gone missing in various amounts ever since we began our atomic industry? Yet no one has ever used a nuclear weapon against us?

You can begin with these very simple facts and build a case from there. My guess is that if you are to give the US security issue a good solid bit of thought, and apply facts, you will find that more people in this country were killed by airplanes crashing into buildings and American citizens (Timothy McVeigh) using conventional blast weapons to destroy them.

Next time I receive the Barrasso Report, I look forward to that letter containing your thoughtful reaction to facts, rather than political spin designed to engage pure emotional response to a perceived but not necessarily valid threat.

Thank you for your time.