When U.S. Supports the Wrong Foreign Leaders

Re “Peace Efforts in Haiti on Hold,” Feb. 22: Add President Jean-Bertrand Aristide of Haiti to the long list of wrong and tragic leaders backed by our government. It seems that the U.S. is doomed to repeat past mistakes. If we go back to Chiang Kai-shek, Josef Stalin, Osama bin Laden, Saddam Hussein and others, we will find the reasons for our often-failed foreign policy missions and decisions. It seems that history is doomed to repeat itself in our case and will continue to do so until we find a way to make better choices among those largely responsible for regime changes. In the case of our foreign policy, it is not that politics makes strange bedfellows, it is that politics makes the wrong bedfellows. Until we can benefit from our mistakes, we will have chaos and many will die because of our shortsightedness.

Charles Jones

Calabasas