A U.S. Soldier in Iraq Questions His Mission

Re “Paths of Glory Lead to a Soldier’s Doubt,” Commentary, Sept. 17: How sad and how misled Tim Predmore is. And how typical that The Times would print his essay and not any of the others I have seen forwarded to me by e-mail from dedicated soldiers who understand their commitment -- and wonder where are the stories of the good we are doing in Iraq.

I have to believe that those with Predmore’s views are in a very small minority in our military. How about the whole story?

James Jardine

Los Angeles

*

Kudos to Predmore for his thought-provoking essay about his participation in the Iraq war. As an infantry veteran of the Vietnam War, I can empathize with his questions and doubts. It is a shame that President Bush, the U.S. Congress and more Americans do not possess Predmore’s intelligence and courage.

Tom Tomaselle

Lompoc

*

To argue that the U.S. acted hypocritically by showing the photos of Saddam Hussein’s dead sons is to completely ignore the motivation behind the act. The U.S. released the photos and autopsy reports because it had sincere concerns that the Iraqi people would not trust our claims that the men had indeed been killed without some hard evidence. The U.S. felt this was important, as many Iraqis who truly want to reform their society were afraid of taking action because they feared retribution from forces controlled by Hussein’s two sons.

On the other hand, the Iraqis made videos of American POWs in an attempt to intimidate the U.S. military and rally support for a corrupt and brutal dictatorship. To ignore the obvious differences in the motivation behind these two acts is the same as concluding that the act of punishing a child for pulling his little sister’s hair is morally the same as punishing the child to pressure him to join a street gang.

Tommy Moran

Encino

*

I wonder how the conservative demagogues in the media and our chicken hawk administration will “support” this military man who was not afraid to speak the truth. Maybe they’ll cut his veteran benefits

Lon Shapiro

Granada Hills