The U.S.-British Coalition Gains Control of Baghdad

I am very proud as I write, on Wednesday, to be an American. I thank God for President Bush’s tremendous political courage.

Beneath the jubilation and tears of happiness on the faces of the Iraqi people finally freed from overwhelming oppression there is a lesson for us all: how horribly wrong ultraliberals in America revealed themselves to be. And how little courage many of them showed when faced with simply doing the right thing for humanity’s sake.

Ron Walker

Dana Point

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Cheers to the men and women of the allied coalition in Iraq! But before we become lost in our elation with their successes, we should keep in mind the one great irony of this war: Saddam Hussein’s ambition was to unite the Arab world against us; Bush is doing just that.

Ken Sheffer

San Dimas

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Given the liberating events occurring in Baghdad on Wednesday, I have two words for the anti-Bush, antiwar, blame-America-first crowd, including so-called peace marchers, irresponsible liberal Democrats and left-leaning newspaper editorial and news writers: Eat crow!

Donald Hirt

Paso Robles

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Our overwhelming military superiority seems to have resulted in a quick conquest of Baghdad. However, firing tank cannons into civilian hotels to kill a sniper, or leveling a residential city block to try to kill one man, Hussein, may be taking “overwhelming” a little too far.

The military campaign is only half of the task; we need to govern the country while it is rebuilt. I hope these are isolated incidents, as will happen during the heat of war. Excessive force against civilians is not calculated to win their hearts and minds and will make the postwar effort much harder.

Lee Aydelotte

Huntington Beach

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The toppling of the Hussein statue in downtown Baghdad had to be one of the most distasteful, shameful and arrogant displays of power I have ever witnessed. And, true to form, the media ate it up. Maybe Gen. Tommy Franks thought Hussein had weapons of mass destruction planted inside. The exploitation of this sorry event, as well as the story of Jessica Lynch, by the media leaves something to be desired of the Fourth Estate.

Roger G. Lowney

San Diego

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Reading the daily communiques of Iraq’s Information Minister Mohammed Said Sahaf (“He Wages War -- on Reality,” April 8), I think he should be nominated for an Emmy Award. But I am not sure under what category -- the best fiction adapted for screenplay, best comedian or best actor.

Sam Fung

Newport Coast

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Can The Times please stop using the term “elite” when writing about the Iraqi Republican Guard, the Iraqi Special Republican Guard or the Fedayeen Saddam? Using human shields, feigning surrender, fighting from schools, hospitals and holy shrines, torturing civilians and POWs and coercing troops by threatening family members does not make a military unit elite. How about using adjectives like bloodthirsty, cowardly or sadistic to describe the above-referenced Iraqi forces?

Laton Fuller

Glendale

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A case of the emperor’s new clothes or blatant stupidity? Now people speak of Bush’s success at defending our country (“Home Front Still Key to Bush’s Reelection,” news analysis, April 8).

Will anybody please explain to me how this war defends our country (strangely enough, the supposed weapons of mass destruction this war supposedly is based on are still missing in action) when North Korea is beckoning at our back door, Al Qaeda can claim more devoted members than ever and our foreign policy is a shambles? How can we take credit for a victory that is akin to rolling over a crippled, starving dog with a bulldozer?

It is one thing to suffer an administration whose policies destroy everything I, as an American, believe in; it is quite another to find my fellow Americans believing unquestioningly what they are told.

Alexandra Wiesenfeld

Los Angeles