Military and Civilians Face Danger in Iraq

I am a former Marine. My wife and I were appalled to read “Full Metal Jacket” (Commentary, Sept. 29). To think that mothers of men and women serving in Iraq, defending our country, would be forced to purchase body armament for their sons and daughters to replace outdated, military-issued Vietnam-era flak vests! We feel that every U.S. citizen should contact his or her U.S. senator and let it be known that all troops serving in harm’s way should be immediately equipped with a new Interceptor vest. Where are our priorities?

We are rebuilding Iraq, spending hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars, granting huge contracts to Halliburton and other well-connected corporations, and yet we can’t scrape up a measly $97 million to save the lives of the men and women who are fighting for our country?

Harvey Goldberg

Rima Goldberg

Pacific Palisades

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I am shocked and saddened that there has not been more of a challenge to President Bush saying that Iraq is now the global battlefield of terrorism. Asking them to live in the cross-fire of the war on terrorism is how we are making the Iraqi people’s lives better? Bush went on to say that it is better for the war on terror to be waged on the streets of Baghdad than on the streets of American cities. The underlying assumption being that Iraqi lives are more expendable than American lives. How blatantly racist can you get?

Norman Laich

Los Angeles