Editor:

In Leo Sanchez's letter of Nov. 1, "Fox News gets it right," he writes that he would appreciate it if I would get my facts straight. It is actually Leo who, as usual, doesn't have his facts straight.

Leo's claim that President Barack Obama wants to create a "civilian military force" is blatantly false, just like so many of the reckless accusations that he has been so flippantly and irresponsibly making in his letters to the editor for years -- including the lying false accusation he made against me that I have written about before, which he has never show the integrity to retract nor the decency to apologize for.

Barack Obama made a single reference to a "civilian national security force." It was on July 2, 2008, in Colorado Springs, in a campaign speech. What was the context? According to FactCheck.org, "Obama was not talking about a 'security force' with guns or police powers. He was talking specifically about expanding AmeriCorps and the Peace Corps and the USA Freedom Corps, which is the volunteer initiative launched by the Bush administration after the attacks of 9/11, and about increasing the number of trained Foreign Service Officers who populate U.S. embassies overseas."

Anyone who is interested can read the transcript of the relevant portion of Obama's speech by visiting FactCheck.org and searching "Obama/civilian military force." Then they can see if they agree with Leo's allegation that, "The Democrats have elected a president who intends to create a civilian military force equal in power to the United States military. This is similar to the Brown Shirts of Hitler; the Red Guard of Mao; the Fedayeen of Saddam; the militia of Fidel." ("Leo Sanchez, Bring back Harry Truman," Sept. 20). I can't imagine that anyone could honestly compare AmeriCorps, the Peace Corps, the USA Freedom Corps and our Foreign Service Officers to the Brown Shirts of Hitler.

DINO WENINO, Casper