Bush Resolve on Iraq Ignores Growing Dissent

Re “U.S. Is Firm, Bush Insists,” Feb. 19: The logic supporting the planned invasion of Iraq is based on the premise that all our enemies can be lumped into one monolithic group. Iraq is the same as Al Qaeda is the same as Hamas is the same as North Korea is the same as the PLO is the same as ... anyone else who frightens us. So, attacking Saddam Hussein prevents a potential recurrence of 9/11 because hitting “the enemy” at any point is a deterrent.

That type of simplistic worldview might be expected of children. Unfortunately, it’s a view shared by our president. That’s why millions of people around the world are marching to stop the madness.

Bernie Nofel

San Diego

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“Democracy is a beautiful thing” intones President Bush in mocking its exercise.

Perhaps the beauty he envisions lies in his delusion, fed by the Supreme Court, that his office is so high that he need not fear its discipline.

Samuel Richmond

Irvine

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I believe that the war protesters are selfish and disingenuous. Their motives verge on anti-Americanism and are surely anti-Bush. When the previous administration waged war in Kosovo and launched missile attacks on Iraq without United Nations backing, nobody spoke up.

They are selfish because they don’t want the Iraqi people to enjoy the same freedom and liberties they enjoy. No Iraqi citizen confronts the government without fear of being tortured or killed. I look forward to the day when we set the Iraqis free, just as we set people free in the previous two world wars. Hope for peace but fight for freedom.

Al Mendoza

Torrance

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I hope that support for the peace movement grows so broad and deep that, if war against Iraq is declared, the invasion force will consist of exactly two people: Bush and Tony Blair.

Roy Komoto

South Pasadena

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The antiwar demonstrations are astounding. Who are the misguided leaders who would persuade good Americans to forget the lessons of history? Have they not heard of the “America Firsters”? How did they miss Neville Chamberlain and “peace in our time”? “Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty” is not a cliche; it is fact.

Protesting doing something to prevent the success of evil is blindness.

Doris Miller

Sun Valley

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It occurred to me that Osama bin Laden has taken a page out of Ronald Reagan’s playbook. Reagan claimed victory over the USSR because he had us outspend the Soviets in the arms buildup of the ‘80s. The USSR fell in large part because it went bankrupt trying to keep up.

Bin Laden is doing the same. With a hint here, a tape there and “chatter” over the airwaves possibly meant to be picked up by our intelligence agencies, he is forcing us to spend increasingly large amounts of our gross domestic product on security rather than on productive endeavors. Given enough time and enough “credible threats,” he can bankrupt us without firing a shot, planting a bomb or infecting a soul.

Jonathan Lawrence

San Juan Capistrano

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True homeland security: duct tape over the mouths of the administration.

Norm Palley

Culver City

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Having noted that the cost of the coming Iraq war could be as much as $200 billion, I wonder where the money will go: What companies figure to receive these funds? Who are the lobbyists for these companies? How many dollars go into the pockets of these lobbyists? Anybody listening?

Jerry Raisin

Los Angeles