Should We Stay the President’s Course?

Ronald Brownstein’s April 19 Washington Outlook column told us that Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Richard G. Lugar (R-Ind.) is only now, reluctantly, permitting his committee to investigate the mess we’re in. And he’s not even calling Deputy Defense Secretary Paul D. Wolfowitz. When will he and other decent Republicans develop the courage to stand and be counted?

We’ve learned how President Bush shoved Secretary of State Colin L. Powell aside when he decided to start his war, then manipulated him into supporting the lies that he and Vice President Dick Cheney manufactured for doing so. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), too, was lied to.

It is time for brave men to cease bowing to this mendacious administration and to place loyalty to our country above loyalty to their party. Powell should have resigned and joined the loyal opposition. As for the others, Sen. James M. Jeffords (I-Vt.) had the courage to go independent. Wouldn’t it be the honorable thing for them to do so as well?

David Paulsen

Sherman Oaks

*

Re “Rice Disputes Claim of Early Iraq Attack Plan,” April 19: Although I’m sure it must be a comfort for Powell to have his opposition to the now-failed policy of the war in Iraq and his conflicts with Cheney and Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld revealed, I am less than appeased by his self-serving confessions to Bob Woodward for the book “Plan of Attack.” If he had any real integrity, he would have done what former Secretary of State Cyrus Vance did when he disagreed with President Carter’s decision to try to rescue the Iran hostages with military force. He would have resigned.

Powell’s decision to not only support the president but to take the administration’s false and misleading evidence used to justify the war before Congress and the United Nations shows a craven commitment to ambition over principle. His rationalization that he was being a good soldier and supporting his commander in chief is no more credible now than it was when the German generals used the same excuse to defend their roles in supporting Hitler.

Carole Simon Mills

San Anselmo, Calif.

*

It seems to me, after considering what former Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill said about Bush and what former counterterrorism chief Richard Clarke has testified to under oath, and now having heard Woodward interviewed, that it is about time that those in Congress really do their duty and fully investigate Bush. What he has done is far more an impeachable offense than the facts of President Clinton’s sexual escapades.

Edward A. Trabin

Torrance

*

Re Robert Scheer’s “With God on His Side ... “ Commentary, April 20: I do not question Bush’s right to personally consult the Almighty, but I do question his justifying an ill-advised war based upon his own imagined divine guidance. History is full of carnage wrought by the sanctimonious in the name of God.

I certainly do not blame God for bringing us Bush, even though Bush claims that God had a role. But I do blame the temporal forces that contributed to his ascendancy to president, including the members of the Supreme Court.

Jim Hoover

Huntington Beach

*

We talk about hatred among Arabs, but we are no different in an election year. The news media have done a fine job of proving that they control the minds of the masses. Iraq is another Vietnam, Bush is a liar, Clinton can do no wrong. Only the Democrats have the solution to save the world. Yes, let’s bring this president down by any means. Let’s rile up the masses.

The news media have to show that they are powerful and that they can change the course of a nation and the world. Sen. John F. Kerry’s (D-Mass.) turn will come soon enough if he is elected in November.

Yolanda Colon

Anaheim

*

Many people have criticized Bush for his errors in the war in Iraq and other mishaps, but I still believe he is a capable president. Sure, he spent $87 billion on the “supplemental” funding request and created huge budget deficits with his enormous tax cuts, but he is trying to do his best and he deserves some consideration. So, Mr. Bush, good luck, and we Americans will support you every step of the way.

Jack Yao

Porter Ranch

*

“No Crystal Ball” (Opinion, April 18) is so incredibly stupid that it would not deserve mention if it were not published in The Times. Moises Naim is essentially asking us to keep Bush for four more years because he has now learned his lesson.

Forget about the reckless, senseless war Bush got us into and the hubris and incompetence that drove him and his neocon advisors. This is not the case of the Titanic that just hit the iceberg; this is the Titanic 100 miles from the iceberg, and there is plenty of time to find a captain who can steer the ship (of state).

Gerald S. Rellick

Santa Ana

*

Stay the course. Is that like what Winston Churchill did in the 1940s, with the consequence that we won World War II? Or is that like what Gen. Douglas MacArthur did in the 1950s, with the consequence that the Chinese crossed the Yalu River?

William Speizman

Los Angeles