Mistakes Led Way Into War; Revenge Won’t Be a Way Out

Re “Powell Critical of Prewar Iraq Data,” April 3: While I never expected any scruples or integrity from guys like Vice President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, it is disheartening to watch Secretary of State Colin Powell’s moral collapse. Powell was very well aware that he was lying through his teeth to the U.N. Security Council, making the case for a war on Iraq. If a layman like me was able to see right through the nonsense presented as “intelligence,” how could he not?

This administration was hellbent on invading Iraq and disregarded any facts that didn’t serve its agenda. For Powell to now blame “faulty intelligence” for his blatant lies to the U.N. is disingenuous at best.

Rainer Duve

Los Angeles

George Soros (Opinion, April 4) has correctly identified the worst flaws in George W. Bush’s misguided foreign policy. World opinion following 9/11 could have been parlayed into an era of unanimity and strength. The costs and responsibilities of fighting terrorism could have been shared.

Instead, the president allowed his most hawkish advisors to turn the world into a more violent, hateful place. Those who believe that barbarism must be countered with more barbarism now control our foreign policy.

Just as Soros states, we are bound to create new terrorists whenever we take innocent lives. The so-called war on terrorism cannot be won with guns. It must be won with ideas.

William French

Los Angeles

Congratulations to The Times for presenting the hard-hitting, thought-provoking and completely unbiased piece from Soros about the war in Iraq. I’m pleased he can take the time from bankrolling MoveOn.org to share his views with us. Who can now claim The Times has a leftist slant? Maybe next you can have Democratic National Committee chair Terry McAuliffe write on the performance of President Bush.

Martin Hanly

Santa Ana

Re “Fallouja: No Good Options,” news analysis, April 4: Revenge? Isn’t that how the current Israeli-Palestinian conflict started? I agree that what happened to those four civilian contractors was appalling and made my blood boil. But embracing an eye-for-an-eye mentality now in Fallouja will only exacerbate the problem and leave us in such a quagmire that we will have no hope of getting out. Our only option is to continue to engage with those Iraqis who want to work to better their country. We need to train and strengthen their own security forces. Once the Iraqis can police themselves, only then will support for the insurgency melt away.

Raymond Tam

Glendale

Newspapers everywhere stated that Americans were “abused” in Fallouja. I think we deserve everything we get in Iraq. Remember, we invaded them; it’s their country. Did the media forget that we paraded around Saddam Hussein’s sons? Did they forget how we wiped out entire towns in Vietnam?

Did they forget shock and awe? Bush said, “Bring it on.” Well, they’re doing just that.

Steve Blackwelder

Dana Point

It took Spanish authorities all of three weeks to find the terrorists responsible for the Madrid bombings (April 4). I do not know the total monetary cost of the operation, but I suspect it compares favorably with the $100 billion we are spending in Iraq. Can we please outsource the jobs of our “wartime leaders” -- Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and national security advisor Condoleezza Rice -- to Spain?

Giovanni Zocchi

Los Angeles

We now have 600 dead Americans in Iraq (April 4). Add to that number thousands more who have been injured and maimed. Add many thousands of Iraqis who have suffered the same fate. The sum of these equals the vision of our president and his advisors.

Paulette F. Katz

Los Angeles