The U.S. Must Define Its True Interests and Allies
Re “Allies Cool to Striking Baghdad,” Aug. 7: I hope our fair-weather friends in Europe and elsewhere who refuse to support our planned actions against Iraq, even though Saddam Hussein’s arsenal of weapons is a danger to every nation, will not call on the U.S. for help when they are threatened by a foreign power.
Gordon L. Froede
Cheviot Hills
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Once again our “moderate Arab friends,” a.k.a. Saudi Arabia, inform us that they will not support our efforts against Saddam “Insane” (“Saudis Say They Won’t Give Access for Iraq Hit,” Aug. 8). Thanks a lot, Saudi Arabia. For my part, not one American life is worth defending them. That is the message I would send them.
It seems to me President Bush said that those who were not with us were against us. Hmm ... very interesting.
Harry Merker
Banning
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The trouble with Saudi Arabia is easy to understand. When we set up military operations and permanent bases inside their country during the Gulf War it infuriated the Saudi people. That Saudi Arabia needed foreigners to sit on its land to protect it from outsiders was (and is) humiliating and a slap in the face. (Imagine if a foreign power like China set up military bases and operations in Long Beach--how would we feel?)
It is the primary reason Osama bin Laden changed his hate from the Russians to the U.S. and is the first of a number of reasons that 9/11 actually took place. Given our long-range military capabilities, keeping military bases in places such as Saudi Arabia only infuriates the locals and increases the worldwide anger and terrorism against the United States.
Gary McAuley
Templeton, Calif.
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Re “Weighing a Just War, or Settling an Old Score?” Commentary, Aug. 6: Anyone crazy enough to lob Scud missiles into Israel as Hussein did during the Gulf War should meet anyone’s definition of a madman, although apparently not Robert Scheer’s.
I agree with Scheer that if Hussein accepts the return of U.N. weapons inspectors, the Bush administration would be hard-pressed to pursue military action against Iraq.
But will the inspectors be successful? Prior experience suggests not. And prior experience clearly shows Hussein to be undeterred in his efforts to acquire weapons of mass destruction, even if he sacrifices the Iraqi people in the process. That’s why we have to be prepared to remove him. I hope we never see the day when Hussein manages to get hold of a nuclear weapon.
Frank Albers
Seal Beach
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If President Bush is so eager to get this country into a war, why didn’t he participate in one when he had the opportunity?
Jon Krampner
Los Angeles