In response to the article Sept. 23 with the subhead “Prisoners: Iraqis say they’ll release women; U.S. says no way,” we’re refusing to release the women prisoners we insisted we didn’t have.

Why would we do anything so stupid as to deny we had them in the first place? Did we think we were going to fool the locals? They live there. Any society as old as Iraq knows plenty of stuff, such as how to embarrass George Bush.

Is there any imaginable scenario where lying wouldn’t have hurt the U.S.? If that was another Wolfowitz-Rumsfeld idea, can’t we thank them for their service and grant them free agency?

Speaking of Bush spin, Sens. Biden, McCain and others from both parties have demanded the public be told what’s in a July intelligence report. The government works for us, we paid for the paper. I want to know what Biden is so desperate for us to find out.

I wonder how our own senators stand on whether we should be allowed to know.

Tom Bulger, Wilton