With Hussein Gone, Al Qaeda Is Stronger

Having reviewed all the documents, classified and unclassified, on the 9/11 attacks and Al Qaeda, a bipartisan independent commission has come out with a preliminary staff report that there is no evidence of a relationship between Saddam Hussein’s regime and Al Qaeda. The preliminary report is probably the most factual, unbiased report, because the final report may be subject to politically correct tinkering.

Those who study Al Qaeda know that it also wished to eliminate Hussein’s regime as a secular, “apostate” government. Only a Taliban-style government is acceptable to the religious fanatics of Al Qaeda. There was no relationship between Al Qaeda and Iraq until one was forged with Sunni religious nationalists in the aftermath of our invasion. Those who studied Al Qaeda predicted that our invasion would introduce jihad in Iraq and provide more recruits for Al Qaeda. Our ignorance has caused us almost as many problems as our enemies.

Jean E. Rosenfeld

Pacific Palisades

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Re “Saudis Give Insurgents a Month to Surrender,” June 24: I’m not surprised to see the Saudis offering amnesty to the “Islamic” terrorists. I am surprised to see it printed as news since they have been doing just that all along.

If there were anybody in this administration who wasn’t so personally invested in the oil business, and if the American people would stop whining for “cheap” gas and start conserving the way we should, then perhaps we might have a more perceptive and beneficial foreign policy.

Bridget Risemberg

Los Angeles

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Re “A Night With the Powerless,” June 24: The self-pitying tone this Iraqi family conveys (or was it inferred by the reporter?) is choking, even parodic. Are Iraqis really spending their days and nights waiting for some outsider, in this case President Bush, to make things better for them? At what point are they supposed to say: “Thanks for getting rid of the madman. The rest is up to us”?

Joel Kilpatrick

Westlake Village

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Whether Bush realizes it or not, he has at least one thing in common with Hussein: Neither knew about 9/11 on 9/10.

Mike Traughber

Oak Park