Trying to put the Iran problem into focus

Re “Bush’s blind spot on Iran,” Opinion, Aug. 16

It’s Robert Scheer who has blinders -- on his praise for German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder’s “accurate” advice about Iran. Yet it was the German intelligence service that, reportedly, refused to allow the CIA a single prewar interview with “Curveball,” the Iraqi defector and liar about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, and in which the CIA would have utilized its interrogation-trained, English-speaking (Curveball spoke English) agents.

Before we take chances on President Bush making the wrong decision on Iran, deja vu Iraq, let’s at least focus on trying to make sure the intelligence he gets on Iran is as firmly accurate as possible. It just might make the difference in his making the right decision, i.e., one based on the facts, this time around.

HARVEY PEARSON

Los Angeles

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Scheer has it wrong: The U.S. government should be proud that it is willing to protect its citizens from militants, past or present, with nuclear weapons. In World War II, the militant Japanese government attempted to spread its imperialist system by force, first attacking our nation at Pearl Harbor. Most recently, the militants pressing for a world under Islam attacked us on our soil, using our commercial airliners. Make no mistake, the mullahs entrenched in Iran applaud that effort and are sowing the seeds to destroy freedom here and abroad.

What is important is that our safety -- the safety of a people united behind the idea of a government intended to protect the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness -- is what is protected by our arsenal of weapons, nuclear or otherwise.

BILL DECKER

San Diego

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And just who will Bush use to attack Iran, old women with pitchforks?

WREN OSBORN

El Cajon, Calif.