Assessing Bush’s Decision-Making

Re “Detractors Find Bush Has Issues,” news analysis, May 6: Many thanks to The Times for informing its readers that the president actively participates in decision-making on foreign policy.

President Bush must be diabolically brilliant to deceive the world with his veneer of utter simplicity. What genius, to avoid ever making a coherent statement in public unless it was written down for him in advance. To think that this brilliant tactician has deceived potential international foes with a supposed lifetime of partying and zero intellectual accomplishment, only to be uncovered by a hard-hitting article in The Times about the inner workings of the White House. The axis of evil had better not underestimate this president who, sources reveal, calls key foreign policy advisors more than once a day.

Howard Cott

Los Angeles

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Doesn’t The Times see how pathetic it is to have to write an article, and even put it on the front page, that says, basically, “Our president isn’t that dumb! Hurray!”

Josie Brostrom

Whittier

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The United States’ decision to “unsign” the International Criminal Court Treaty does not mean that “unilateralism is back” (“U.S. Quits Treaty on Global Court,” May 7). In fact, the U.S. is leading the way in international war crimes prosecution by supporting the special court in Sierra Leone. This type of court is better than the ICC for addressing such crimes.

First, its location near the scene of the alleged crimes, in Sierra Leone, affords both the victims and the supporters of the accused the opportunity to see that justice is done. Second, having Sierra Leoneans occupy important positions in the court will increase respect for the law in Sierra Leone and strengthen the institutions that enforce it. Such goals cannot be addressed by an ICC sitting in The Hague.

Unilateralism is not back; the U.S. and the other countries that support the Special Court for Sierra Leone have simply devised a new and better way to prosecute war crimes.

Bill Tucker

Palo Alto

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The Bush administration’s bizarre decision to unsign the International Criminal Court Treaty (which would not have bound us anyway without congressional ratification) is unbelievably foolish. Do we really want to be in the company of Libya, the only other nation on the planet that has consistently opposed the treaty?

When will we, as the world’s only superpower, learn that with power comes responsibility--a responsibility to lead the world, not retreat from it? Why are we so stupidly stampeding away from the only place we can truly fight terrorism--the moral high ground of international cooperation?

Elizabeth Palmberg

Claremont