Soviet Experience Is No Precedent

Re “Afghanistan Is Like Nothing You’ve Ever Seen, Soviet Vets Say,” Sept. 19: Igor Lisinenko and Andrei Logunov have misunderstood the U.S. We enter this “war” in self-defense and for justice, not like the Soviet Union they served, which attempted to occupy Afghanistan to support a Soviet puppet government. Our resolve is real and our goal is not occupation. We will not be facing the military and financial support of a superpower behind our enemies in Afghanistan, as the Soviets did when the U.S. backed the Afghanis.

“Can it be that America is nostalgic for the times it was getting daily deliveries of zinc coffins from Vietnam?” Excuse me, but that is such a load of crap. We didn’t ask for this conflict. We didn’t ask for thousands of our innocent civilian citizens to be murdered, for Pentagon employees to be murdered, as well as the hundreds of others from foreign countries. No, we are not nostalgic. We are angry and full of righteous indignation. God bless America!

Jan C. Russell

South El Monte

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I support President Bush’s decision to summon armed forces to prepare for battle in order to pressure Osama bin Laden and the Taliban to surrender. However, we should not use our power for retaliation. We should solve this matter as peacefully as possible. I believe that this is the only just way to bring closure to Bin Laden’s reign of terror. Going into war with Afghanistan would only cause more loss of innocent lives. Bush and the citizens of the U.S. want to bring Bin Laden to justice, but I urge the president to act carefully.

Lilit Gedzhekushyan

Van Nuys