Spinning Perspective on Life and Death in Iraq

Re “Dog Bites Man in Baghdad,” Commentary, Oct. 28: Max Boot believes the real news is Iraq’s return to normality. Imagine this “normality” in the Iraqi mind: an unjustified invasion and occupation causing the deaths of over 10,000 countrymen (and counting), creation of both a breeding ground and magnet for Islamic extremists and an escalating chaos caused by 25 daily attacks against U.S. soldiers, with bombings of Iraqi police headquarters, the United Nations and the Red Cross. A mere dog bite, for sure.

While both Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Secretary of State Colin Powell make admissions about their unpreparedness in dealing with the growing violence, Boot creates spin. I’m sure there’s a job waiting for him at Fox News.

Stephen Pitt

Moreno Valley

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Boot’s arguing that the press focuses on the bad news from Baghdad is absurd. Would he argue that, because millions of California houses are not burning, the press coverage of the fires is overly negative? Would he make the same argument for 9/11 by comparing deaths there to highway deaths, which are many times higher each year?

He doesn’t mention that in addition to the deaths, Iraq is costing us hundreds of billions of dollars and has made us the most hated nation in the world. He doesn’t mention that we are turning a secular nation headed by a tyrant into a religious fundamentalist nation that can send out hordes of suicide bombers who hate us.

Gary Brown

Santa Monica

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There is a distinct aberration in your Oct. 28 editorial, “Iraq’s Ominous Bombings.” You say that President Bush is “far-fetched” in claiming that “the more progress [in improving Iraqis’ lives] the U.S. makes, the more desperate the killers become.” Yet, in the very next sentence, you admit these improvements “will win support from most Iraqis and turn them against guerrillas who jeopardize the gains.” Whose side are you on anyway?

Bernice Rothman Hasin

Newport Beach