Looming War in Mideast

“Rumors of Peace, Threats of War” (editorial, Jan. 4) gives me the feeling that we have too many “cooks in the kitchen”! We can’t seem to make up our minds.

I’ve read countless articles and letters to editor and too many of them predicate their opposition on the basis of the oil supply. For economic and military reasons, the lack of the availability of oil could paralyze our military and bankrupt our economy.

In about two or three years Saddam Hussein will have the nuclear option with which to blackmail the entire world. There are surely some people out there who remember the Cuban missile crisis and President Kennedy speaking on television, warning the nation about a possible nuclear attack! A chilling experience!

We must avoid a repeat of this type of coercive blackmail; therefore, as a practical matter, there will be no better time to get rid of Saddam than now.

In retrospect, the aerial strike against Libya took about one hour and it is interesting that today even Moammar Kadafi is trying to promote peace!

Peace can be attained only when one nation is big enough to demand it and tough enough to enforce the demands.

SAMUEL S. SHERWIN

Los Angeles