Oil, Blood and U.S. Foreign Policy

Did Arthur Schlesinger Jr. really write “Good Foreign Policy a Casualty of War” (Opinion, March 23)? He states that “we can’t win a war against North Korea because it has nuclear weapons,” and he goes on to say that it is a greater threat than Iraq. One of the main reasons that President Bush is going after Iraq is because he doesn’t want Saddam Hussein to develop nuclear weapons and blackmail the rest of the Middle East and the U.S. Schlesinger is missing the most obvious explanation for this war.

Fred Cavaiuolo

Honolulu

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Re “U.N. Never Held a Cure,” Opinion, March 23: Frederick W. Kagan believes the “problem” is that Bush must prove Hussein’s guilt, rather than making Hussein prove his own innocence. In the U.S., we don’t call that a problem. We call it a cornerstone of our whole system of justice. Or does Kagan mean to imply that “innocent until proven guilty” is just another democratic principle that has died at the hands of the Bush administration?

Joey Crawford

Los Angeles

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When I saw the headline “Make Iraq Our New Strategic Oil Reserve” (Commentary, March 23), I expected to find a tongue-in-cheek column. Instead I found a serious statement by John Herrington, former Energy secretary in the Reagan administration, proposing that we simply rule Iraq for our own benefit, extracting its oil to serve U.S. interests. No left-wing antiwar protester could have made a clearer case that this is a war for oil.

Robert A. Lerche

Belmont, Calif.

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Is oil mixed with blood bad for my car?

Haskell Barkin

Studio City

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Re “Resolution Opposed by 11 Wary Democrats,” March 22: I am completely disgusted with L.A.’s Democratic Reps. Diane Watson and Maxine Waters. By not voting for the resolution expressing support for our troops in Iraq, they have committed the ultimate insult to our men and women in the armed services as well as their families and the people of Los Angeles. I am just as disgusted with the other nine Democrats who voted the same way and the 22 who abstained.

Allan L. Griffith

Glendale

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Too much destroyed, too many human beings already dead.... Where are the opponent’s so-called weapons of mass destruction that we fear so much? Should we expect them after the war is over? Or do we expect to anger someone who actually has them? I’d really like someone to actually ask this question and be heard.

Patrick James Guerrero

Mission Hills

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I fully support the invasion of Iraq. However, I won’t be satisfied merely with liberating the Iraqi people and ridding the country of weapons of mass destruction. I hope that the invasion is just the beginning of a broader campaign to take out terrorist encampments and facilities wherever they are located throughout the Mideast.

William B. Johnson

Arcadia

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Bombs are raining over Baghdad. Americans are watching the war on TV as if it were a sports event like the Super Bowl. How sad. Democracy and dissent are being criticized as unpatriotic. America, have you sold your soul?

Ganesa Mahalingam

Monrovia

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I hope the people who loudly advocate torturing Al Qaeda detainees understand the increased danger they thrust upon American POWs in Iraq.

Larry Garrison

Playa del Rey

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Is it just me, or does it seem that the most dangerous place for our troops is inside a military helicopter?

Mark Edelstein

La Crescenta