A TIME TO FIGHT

At the rate we are going the debate over the Vietnam War will rage forever, as it should. For the most part I agree with letter writer John Densmore’s approval (April 30) of David Halberstam’s scathing attack of McNamara’s book, “In Retrospect.”

What I don’t agree with is Densmore’s last statement in his letter: “I now clearly see the blood on the correct hands: power hungry men, who don’t get that the new warrior’s strength is not to fight.”

It was the Vietnam War that made me realize that there are just wars and unjust wars. There is a time to fight and die for a just cause, and a time to rebel against unjust wars. These are decisions that have to be made by informed citizens before they are dragged off to war.

We must always be prepared to take on the Hitlers of the world. We must also re-evaluate how we go about fighting wars. If Saddam Hussein was the criminal in the Iraqi war, then maybe the UN should have gone after him instead of decent Iraqi soldier citizens.

This is why the Vietnam War has become so important.

BENNY WASSERMAN, LA PALMA