Civilization Versus the Savagery of War

Re “Civilization’s Obscene Ghost,” Opinion, April 6: Peter Brooks contends that “what is wholly lacking in current political discourse is any recognition of the obscenity of war.” This obscenity is aptly demonstrated in a comment made by 1st Lt. Shane Williams (“A Daylight Dash,” April 6) after an armored column attack in Baghdad that apparently left 1,000 Iraqi soldiers dead: “It was a very good hunting day.” What a disgusting remark!

This reduction of other beings to the level of animals fit only to be killed for sport belies the Bush administration’s attempt to cloak its war aims in the rhetoric of liberation. This war is, indeed, as Brooks suggests, “a failure of civilization.”

Eric Gudas

Alyssa Sherwood

Pasadena

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Three questions: Are we really safer now that we are just about to finish off Iraq? Does victory in Baghdad mean that there will not be any more terrorist attacks against the U.S.? Will the Bush administration leave Syria, Iran and North Korea off its hit list? If any of these answers are “no,” then perhaps our country is on the wrong path.

Patty and Larry Salinas

Helendale, Calif.

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There were many heart-wrenching photos of American and Iraqi victims of the horrible war in the April 6 Times. One picture that was taken by Rick Loomis was of Iraqis carrying their children and a few belongings on a road south of Baghdad. I tried to imagine myself in their terrifying position. Then I saw “War Puts Demands on First Ladies, Too” (Opinion, April 6), which states that “Mrs. Bush will have to decide how, not whether, she’s going to be a wartime first lady.” I wondered if she will have to make her difficult decision over tea in her comfortable sitting room. Fortunately, she won’t have to define herself while carrying her children and her belongings in her arms while fleeing Washington.

Sharon Hall

Torrance

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Re “Young Saudis Eager to Battle Americans” and “Arab TV Shows a Very Different Conflict,” April 5: So Arabs are eager to defend Arabs and Muslims based on what they hear in their mosques and what they view on Arab-owned-and-operated television stations. If they are so eager to defend Muslims, where were they in Mogadishu? We were there defending Muslims, trying to provide them with food as part of a multilateral, French-approved plan, no less.

Where were these brave warriors when we were defending Muslims against the Serbs in Kosovo? Where were they when Iran was killing hundreds of thousands of Arabs? Where were these “brave young Saudis” when Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait and was threatening their own country? They were watching Al Jazeera and listening to their imams and being fed a steady diet of anti-American invective.

Aaron H. Frank

Westlake Village

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Seems like we’re going to have to destroy Baghdad in order to save it.

Arlen Grossman

Culver City

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Re “Baath Party Is Bedrock of Hussein’s Power Base” (April 5), on Hussein’s killer Boy Scouts. Egyptian freelance journalist Sayed Nassar said, “The party is accused of being a dictator party. It has to be. How else can you rule a country with six different ethnic and religious sects?” That’s funny; has he examined the U.S. lately? America is a melting pot of almost every sect and religion. Democracy, not dictatorship, works for me!

Steve Husting

Fountain Valley