U.S. Civilians Close to Iraq War Run a Big Risk

Re “A Victim Who Never Feared for His Safety,” May 13: President Bush’s continuing “dog ate my homework” excuses to shirk responsibility for everything are getting old. Now the American government whines that it didn’t illegally detain independent contractor Nick Berg -- the Iraqi police did.

Excuse me. Didn’t we invade their country and co-opt all of their institutions, including their police department? If an innocent American civilian is hauled in off the street and jailed, do we no longer have any responsibility for his welfare simply because he’s not in “our department”?

Mary Rosendale

El Sereno

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Do these civilian contractors not know what they are getting themselves into when they willingly travel to a war zone? That is doubtful. They know that they could be killed, yet they travel to Iraq voluntarily. But when they finally do get killed, their deaths lead to an uproar.

The deaths of people who have been ordered to Iraq do not get the same attention. Apparently the fact that these contractors are civilians makes them “untouchable” and “innocent” in the eyes of the media, the public and the administration. Though these people are not soldiers, they are not untouchable. They are representatives of an occupying power in a war zone.

Tom Ciril

Long Beach

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I do not understand those who point to the horrific killing of Berg in dismissing the Iraqi prisoner abuse issue. The former was perpetrated by a group of uncivilized, murderous thugs; the latter by an organized, highly trained and disciplined force representing our morals and values. The comparison should end there. In using one to justify the other, we run the risk of becoming our enemy to destroy him and, in the process, losing whatever moral compass remains.

Howard S. Blum

Thousand Oaks

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The beheading of Berg was tragic and horrific, but from an Arab’s perspective, was it any worse than a grinning American soldier giving the thumbs-up while posing next to a dead Iraqi, as indicated by several members of Congress who saw the latest round of Abu Ghraib photos (May 13)? The American people are learning a sobering lesson that death and savagery in war are indiscriminate. Ultimately, all participants are victims.

Steve Fisher

Burbank