ON THE STREET

This week the Southeast Missourian asked, "Following the bombing of a U.S. airbase that killed 19 Americans in Saudi Arabia, what do you think should be done to improve the security of U.S. troops stationed there?"

Rod Hoffman, Columbus, Ohio

"More direct U.S. control of the facility. We had a petition to the Saudi government to move the troops back from the perimeter and they wouldn't do anything. The general failed to notify Washington apparently about this inability to move the Saudi government, so if they're putting our troops in there we ought to have control over their security."

Lester Hoffman, Scott City

"We've got to be in these places. You're depending on a foreign country basically for your protection and that's going to be a bad situation anywhere you're at down the road. What happened belatedly by the Saudis, which we tried to do earlier, is move those barriers farther back...if the barriers were farther back Islamic radicals probably wouldn't have tried to bomb to start with. See, this has been a case of locking up the barn after the horse is out."

Jim Herod, Cape Girardeau

"Beef up security...I would suspect a better security system. They should block off the access to it....where that can't get to it as they do similar I would say to Pennsylvania Avenue."

Richard Macke, Fredricktown

"To begin with, if you look at a drawing of how the building were laid out the parking is too close to the first building. If they would have closed that park off like they did the rest of the compound that would have added to the security."

Don Griffith, Cape

"I think they need to tighten security and move the outer borders out farther away form the housing facilities."