The U.S. Presses Its War to Take Down a Dictator
So President Bush has his war, and TV has material for round-the-clock wallowing in military talk and American power. But the Bush people have officially sent the U.S. back into a dark age, marketing fear and showing we will lash out anywhere we please in the name of saving our own skins.
In the 2002 elections, Bush cowed millions of voters with the simplistic message to vote Republican if you cared about “security.” Saddam Hussein, like many other dictators around the globe, is a horrible tyrant -- but he is not a threat to the United States. Terrorism cannot be fought by bombing country after country. We have set a terrible precedent, and I feel anything but patriotic about that.
John von Szeliski
Newport Beach
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History is replete with examples of political leaders who failed to learn its lessons. Not so this time. Listening to President Bush, and to the stirring speeches by Prime Minister Tony Blair and the loyal opposition (nobly supporting him, in this case) in the British Parliament on Tuesday, I recognize that this is a rare and pivotal moment in history, a moment when great men and great peoples choose to do the right thing in light of the lessons of the past.
Chris Ross
Redlands
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In the minutes following the beginning of the American attack on Baghdad, Bush went on television with a somber visage to announce that the war had commenced. However, The Times reports (March 20), when the cameras weren’t trained on him, he pumped his fist and declared, “Feel good!” Does this president not realize that sending young American men and women into battle to face the possible loss of their own lives, not to mention those of innocent Iraqi men, women and children, is not a cause for celebration?
Steve Marshall
Castaic
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I am a defense plant worker who opposes the attack on Iraq, but I wish to make one thing clear. Regardless of how I feel about the wisdom of this war, I will do everything I can do in support of our troops, in hopes that the more I sweat, the less they will bleed.
I don’t like Bush and his cronies -- I don’t trust them -- but once the order is given, they no longer matter. I’m just a shipper, but what I can do, I will do. Not for Bush, not for Vice President Dick Cheney, not to oust Hussein. For our fathers, brothers, sisters, sons and daughters in the field.
Michael K. Walker
Goleta
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Congratulations, President Bush. You have just made Hussein the second-most-hated man in the world.
Catherine Makoul
Culver City
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“Elusive Hussein Escapes ‘Silver-Bullet’ First Strike” (March 20) states that the strike was unsuccessful. The fact is, we do not know if this strike was successful or not. I, for one, hope it was.
Dave Becker
Temecula
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Bad enough that we shot first; even worse that we missed.
Brad Smith
Granada Hills
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We don’t know yet if Hussein is alive or dead, but as a video expert, I can say conclusively that his address on Iraqi television was not live but a tape. While it’s difficult to tell a perfect tape from a live broadcast, a slightly damaged tape is easy to recognize. This broadcast had several clear “dropouts” that were not characteristic of satellite or broadcast television but rather of a slightly worn professional Betacam videotape.
Gary Davis
Culver City
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If we have a quick and easy war (for those not in the service), the hawks will be able to begin planning the next war against the “axis of evil.” If we have a long and difficult war, the horror may force the hawks to retreat back into their caves. In case of the former, the world will know that the “weapons of mass destruction” were a myth. In case of the latter, the people of the U.S. will know that an avoidable war such as this is not worth the cost in death and destruction. In either case, a couple of generations of young people will pay the price.
What a sad day this is for our country.
Ila Harris
San Dimas
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The whole world is wincing.
Steven Bartel
Los Angeles
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As an ex-Marine, I wish our troops Godspeed as they march against one of the most despicable dictators who has ever walked on this Earth. However, as a U.S. citizen who has coached American football to European friends from Finland to Italy, I must apologize to them for my country’s bankrupt and shortsighted diplomacy, which abrasively shunned their legitimate opinions and concerns about Iraq.
It is a historical tragedy that “deployment determinism” won the day over a United Nations inspection program that was finally working due to the deployment of brave U.S. and British troops. Let us all pray that this war is brief and short on casualties. Let us all pray, also, that it does not regress into a medieval clash between Islamic fundamentalists and fundamentalists within our own midst.
Paul Petrich Jr.
Santa Barbara
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Bush’s war has little to do with fighting terror and everything to do with empire. His right-wing clique thinks it can dominate the world by force, starting with the Middle East. They are wrong, and it is we who will pay. This war fulfills Osama bin Laden’s wildest dreams. It will ensure a fine supply of terrorists for years to come. Bush and his successors will use the terror to justify bigger armies, more wars and more repression. The American people will pay in blood and poverty. We may lose democracy itself. Empires are bad for the people back home. Bush’s war is bad for democracy and bad for America.
William F. Avrin
San Diego
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Instead of so many Americans angrily lambasting the French for being “obstructionists,” they should be gratefully thanking them. The Arab on the street cannot now claim that our war of “liberation” is the apocalyptic Christian-versus-Islamic showdown so many of us fear. Instead, the French and the rest of the nay-saying U.N. Security Council members have shown the Muslim world that not all people in the West have hegemonic desires over the Middle East.
Deborah Vaupen
Santa Monica
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Memo to the White House: Can somebody please tell me how much “Operation Liberate Iraqi Oil Fields” is going to cost? Either you folks can’t figure it out, or the numbers are too staggering to admit. Don’t worry, your dumbed-down citizenry will swallow anything wrapped in God and country. So what will it be: $100 billion for freedom ... 200 billion patriot dollars ... $300 billion in the name of the Lord?
Pat Viera
Eagle Rock
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A letter writer asserted (March 20) that, despite detesting Bush, he would still fight to protect America if it were invaded, just as he expects the Iraqi people to fight to protect their country. Would he still feel the same way if, by writing such a letter to his local newspaper and having it published, he and his entire family would be kidnapped from their home, tortured and eventually murdered? Might that change his mind about defending his leader and country?
Mike Kilgore
Los Angeles