Hussein’s Message to Americans

Kissinger not unexpectedly joins the hawks you quoted in your Sept. 14 issue who dismiss sanctions and argue for a decisive military strike in Iraq now. Even though sanctions imposed by virtually the whole world have never been tried before, these “analysts” know they won’t work. Over time, they say, our waiting game will get harder to sustain. Harder than what, one wants to ask, war?

What’s really getting harder is restraining the hawks. Their own proclivities and all that bright new military hardware glinting in the desert sun blind them to other courses of action. But there are some. Iraq depends for water on two vital rivers that originate outside its borders. It’s been suggested that they be dammed. This might precipitate military reaction by Iraq against the countries damming them but perhaps we could negotiate with Britain, France and Germany to come to the defense of these countries. Perhaps we could wait for sanctions to take their inevitable toll.

There is in all of us a tendency to let frustration and fear impel us to use force before trying other measures which might achieve our goals. We have to remember, though, that our boys will be killed and our economy devastated by giving in to this tendency. Let’s hope Bush resists the advice of hawks like Kissinger whose role in Vietnam should have put an end to invitations from The Times and other responsible members of the media to give his discredited advice.

ANN ALPER

Pacific Palisades