Letters to the editor

After the Holocaust, we said "never again," and then came Rwanda; after Vietnam, we said "never again," and then came Iraq. History is its own best prediction. In the Nuclear Age, no able enemy dares challenge the U.S. in what Air Force Major Gen. Charles J. Dunlap Jr. terms a "symmetrical" war. History has shown that the result of symmetry is a cold war that ultimately is fought by proxy in irregular guerrilla conflicts.

The wars that generals get are not the wars they want. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates was right to rid the Pentagon of wish-thinking hawks like Michael Wynne. When planning for challenges from hostile powers with conventional armies, Congress would be better served by heeding Gates' admonitions to invest heavily in our country's diplomatic abilities.

Kevin T. Freeman

Rancho Cucamonga



The Times mentions Iraq nine times and Afghanistan five times, but China or Russia? Zero.

How can you not mention these countries? You could have minimally written that neither is a threat, but that wouldn't have sounded right. The reasonable conclusion is that we need to prepare for both kinds of war, symmetric and asymmetric.

Frank Natoli

Newton, N.J.

Parking meter gripes

Re "Parking rates may increase," June 17

It is disingenuous to pretend that an increase in parking meter rates will get people out of their cars. Los Angeles is doing this for money.

Perhaps it has helped other cities balance their budgets, but unlike other cities, Los Angeles is filled with permit-parking areas. How many more neighborhoods will request these districts when cars flood their streets to avoid paying high meter costs? What are the health costs associated with the pollution created from more cars circling our neighborhoods looking for parking spots?

How much might the city lose when people get a restaurant valet to park their car for $5 rather than pay $4 an hour into a meter -- and still have to worry that they may go over a few nanoseconds and get ticketed?

Along with the recent series of hikes for trash pickup, this will be a tax way beyond what is reasonable or justifiable. As the song says, "If you drive a car I'll tax the street ... If you take a walk I'll tax your feet."

Francine Oschin

Encino