Forge an Agreement With Iraqi Leader on Sanctions

Our biggest problem is our admitted desire for a “regime change” in Iraq. Saddam Hussein would have to be mad to let U.N. inspectors destroy all his weapons of mass destruction, leaving him defenseless. The solution is a deal. The U.N. gets to destroy all the weapons of mass destruction and be permitted to conduct unfettered inspections for as long as it considers the regime to be a danger. In return, the U.N. will lift all sanctions and promise not to attack, provided Iraq does not support any attack on any other country and keeps to the deal.

Bill Ross

Santa Ana

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I am one of a few rare U.S. citizens who has lost his home in a war. My family’s house was destroyed by a B-29 bombing in a residential area in Tokyo early in 1945. I was 4; I suffered malnutrition for a long time even after the war ended. My mother almost died of pneumonia.

If the U.S. homeland had ever gotten the same amount of bombings per population from another nation, President Bush would not so easily decide on attacks. Women and children suffer the most in wars, not dictators. Japan’s Emperor Hirohito was allowed to live and stay in his position for many years, while millions of civilians were killed in the war. U.S. world policies must consider the civilians on the other side, who are much more vulnerable than those here.

Bush is, however, clearly correct about one thing. A nation should not have biological, chemical and nuclear weapons. The U.S. cannot be an exception. We have to practice what we preach.

Kenji Irie

Los Angeles

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Steve Lopez’s Sept. 29 column (“There’s No Telling Where a War With Iraq May Take Us”) is amazing. He starts off by telling us that national polls are not to be trusted and then concludes his column by asking if we want another poll. Does he really think his column is going to change things and, moreover, suddenly make national polls trustworthy? Even our so-called allies, who are against an Iraq attack, acknowledge the threat Hussein poses.

Yes, of course there are very great risks in any war, especially postwar developments. However, Germany and Japan are shining examples of what may be. What’s painfully missing from his column is what alternatives to an Iraq attack Lopez suggests. If it is for us to sit on our hands and continue blowing hot air, then we deserve what’s coming ... and that’s the bottom line.

Darryl von Geusau

Santa Monica

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If Congress passed a law making it illegal for the U.S. to go to war against any nation it had sold weapons to, we’d be at peace with the world.

Ian Black

San Diego