Reaction to Mideast War

It is depressing to see how much President Bush’s New World Order resembles the old--that is, a world in which greed, ignorance and brute force are the determining factors in the affairs of states. I cannot support our going to war in the gulf, though I categorically condemn Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait. Still, I was taught that two wrongs don’t make a right--and the President’s decision to use military force to resolve this matter is unjustified.

It should be remembered that many of the nations that are presently arrayed against Iraq were only too glad to sell the “Butcher of Baghdad” all of the military hardware that his petro-dollars could afford. Having created this monster, we now proclaim that it is our duty to destroy him. Maybe, but the sanctions that were in place, coupled with a firm resolution to see that no further military supplies would be sold to his regime, could have done the job.

Now we will never know, and the chance for a positive change in how the world solves its problems has been bombed into oblivion. Perhaps we will now find the resolve to insist that this country adopt a comprehensive energy policy that will eliminate our dependence on foreign oil. Perhaps we will now agree to restructure our budget so as to curtail such adventurism in the future and to devote our resources to solving our domestic problems. Perhaps we will never again feel the need to prove our collective virility at the expense of those who are weak and led by fools.

Perhaps we will find the way to peace.

JIM JENAL, South Pasadena