When Bonnie Greer returned to America to talk to the people she grew up with, she came across a different set of attitudes towards the events of 11 September
by Bonnie Greer

African America knows something about the ugly face America presents to the world. To friends here in Britain I always say that if you don't like American foreign policy, try American domestic policy. Try being an American citizen with the full backing of the constitution yet by word and deed having to feel like an outsider.

It took me years in Britain to adjust to being called 'American' and 'Yank'. I had never felt like one in the land of my birth. Yet to hear intelligent people condemn America, even say it got what was coming to it on 11 September, makes me want to yell 'Which America are you talking about? Not mine!'

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by Glen Johnson

WASHINGTON - President Bush yesterday invoked executive privilege to block a congressional subpoena exploring abuses in the Boston FBI office, prompting the chairman of a House committee to lambaste his fellow Republicans and triggering what one congressman said is the start of ''a constitutional confrontation.''

''We've got a dictatorial president and a Justice Department that does not want Congress involved... Your guy's acting like he's king, '' GOP Representative Dan Burton of Indiana (left) tells Carl Thorsen, a deputy assistant attorney general. (AP photo)

''You tell the president there's going to be war between the president and this committee,'' Dan Burton, the Indiana Republican who heads the House Government Reform Committee, told a Justice Department official during what was supposed to be a routine prehearing handshake.

''His dad was at a 90 percent approval rating and he lost, and the same thing can happen to him,'' Burton added, jabbing his finger and glaring at Carl Thorsen, a deputy assistant attorney general who was attempting to introduce a superior who was testifying.

''We've got a dictatorial president and a Justice Department that does not want Congress involved. ... Your guy's acting like he's king.''

The searing tone continued for more than four hours from Republicans and Democrats, liberals and conservatives. All objected to the order Bush signed Wednesday and made public yesterday. It claimed executive privilege in refusing to hand over prosecutors' memos in criminal cases, including an investigation of campaign-finance abuses, saying doing so ''would be contrary to the national interest.

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