Is a Preemptive Attack the Best Option for U.S.?

We can probably all agree that Saddam Hussein is a time bomb waiting to go off. A wise leader would bring in the bomb squad to defuse the bomb (consulting with experts with extensive training, ingenuity and the delicate manual skills of watchmakers) and exercise the utmost caution and restraint. President Bush, impatient to ensure the safety of the American people, wants to rush in with a very large hammer.

Anne Hormann

Pasadena

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Hussein is again playing stupidly, just as he did 12 years ago when he lost Desert Storm. A smart despot would surrender a portion of his weapons and hide the rest. This would desperately confound Bush. Voices would cry out, “Hey, look! Hussein gave up his weapons. Bush should leave him alone!” But he is too stupid to do that. He just tells the U.N., “Weapons? What weapons?” Much of the world seems to swallow this. But maybe not everyone.

Chuck Wagner

Culver City

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A year ago, all of the Monday morning quarterbacks were writing letters to the editor complaining that the CIA and FBI did not connect the dots of intelligence to stop 9/11 before it happened. Today, the intelligence people have connected the dots to implicate Hussein with weapons of mass destruction and Al Qaeda. Now the same people are saying that they need more proof. I hope that it will not take another 9/11-type tragedy to prove that we should have done something sooner.

William Gardner

San Marino

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Re “Countdown to War,” Opinion, Feb. 2: My sincere gratitude to Jack Miles for so beautifully stating the case for at least slowing, if not halting, the ill-considered yet seemingly inevitable march to war with Iraq.

It should be read aloud to Bush, with particular emphasis on: “a Christian ought still to be the most reluctant of warriors.” If we preemptively attack Iraq, the likely reprisals against the U.S., for which we are so woefully underprepared, as well as the inevitable cost in human life and financial resources, are terrifying to contemplate.

What is the hurry? Is the threat from Iraq really more imminent than the threat from Al Qaeda and other (including domestic) terrorists? It seems we are jeopardizing American security, rather than ensuring it, by single-mindedly pursuing the path of war against Iraq. I implore President Bush to open his mind to concerned, rational voices like that of Miles.

Lynn Eames

Los Angeles

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Miles appears to believe that if we don’t invade Iraq, Al Qaeda will not attack us. What wishful thinking!

Vik Rubenfeld

Santa Monica

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Please speak of peace, President Bush. Do not order a preemptive strike on Iraq. Explain in no uncertain terms to us, the American people, why Iraq is such an imminent threat to our national safety and why invading Iraq has taken precedence over stunning Al Qaeda. I guess I feel this way because I am a Vietnam War widow and because I have a son serving in the military.

Carol Swain

Fountain Valley