Look at the Means to Avoid a Bad End

Re “ ‘Bad Apples’ or Predictable Fruits of War?” Commentary, May 10: Thank you, Michael Massing, for exposing our scapegoating for what it is. Until President Bush and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld acknowledge the connection between the Abu Ghraib atrocities and their own war policies, their apologies are meaningless.

Massing rightly points out that America’s commitment to a free world has been a source of both good and evil. The difference between the two has been determined largely by our decisions whether or not to use violence and whether or not to be accountable to the other nations of the world.

When we disregard the cautions of our international neighbors or rely on overwhelming force to accomplish our ends, our proclamations of liberty serve only to legitimate our national arrogance. The atrocities committed along the way should not surprise us.

Scott Becker

Pasadena

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Severely punishing the young troops involved in the Iraqi abuse outrage would only be making them scapegoats for a much larger truth. When the commander in chief sends troops into battle under false pretenses, an example is being set. The ends justify the means.

Let’s not severely punish these young people for emulating this example. It would only add insult to injury.

Steve Baker

Los Angeles

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Re “A Record of Misjudgment,” editorial, May 9: We have reached a new low in Orwellian doublespeak. The Bush administration knew about the torture of prisoners for many months in Iraq. Indeed, the person sent to administer Abu Ghraib prison was the former administrator of the Guantanamo prison facility, where torture and violations of the Geneva Convention are the norm.

Bush’s assertion that his administration does not condone acts of torture is easily provable as an untruth.

Chuck Noyes

Northridge

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I am not losing sleep over some Iraqis being humiliated in a prison. What does bother me is Bush and Rumsfeld having to kowtow to Democrats who don’t understand that many Muslims, specifically Arab Muslims, want to kill us all.

Thank God the Democratic Party of the 1940s was not the Democratic Party we have now. If it were, my Christian friends would be speaking German and I would be a lampshade.

Susan R. Goldenberg

Cypress

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After looking at pictures of the tortured Iraqi prisoners, I feel that the United States now has to confront a new “axis of evil,” the members being Bush, Rumsfeld and the chief architect of the Iraqi war, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz. They and the military guards who abused the Iraqi prisoners should bear equal responsibility and punishment.

Richard H. Smith

Cerritos

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Re “Rumsfeld Apologizes, Warns of More Graphic Abuse Images,” May 8: Apologies are not enough, nor is a resignation. Rumsfeld should be fired. Lies, lies, lies. This shameful war is now further drenched in shame, and the actions of this administration have resulted in fueling the fires of terrorism rather than extinguishing them.

Sherry Stevens

Santa Monica

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What will it take? I have watched in horror as those in the current administration stole the election, set up all their big business cronies, eviscerated the environmental advances of the last two decades and now have created a climate in which torture and abuse are accepted by our military.

What will it take to bring the evildoers to justice? That means you, Mr. Bush and Mr. Rumsfeld -- and Vice President Dick Cheney and advisor Karl Rove. I am looking forward to a day when I can once again feel proud to be an American.

This is currently impossible, with the actions of the Bush administration representing me to the world.

Andrew Murdock

Silver Lake