Measuring the cost of the war

Re “Bush Says Iraq Exit Timetable Is ‘Speculation,’ ” Aug. 12

Why is President Bush more concerned about sending a “terrible signal” to the Iraqi people than he is about the senseless slaughter of American troops by these same people?

Our brave soldiers are killed every week by the guerrilla warfare tactics of the Iraqis. Guerrilla warfare is only successful with the implied consent of the populace.

Bush’s statements to Americans again reveal his inability to lead this great country.

INA LOGAN

Fullerton

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There were no weapons of mass destruction, we were not welcomed as liberators and we are certainly not spreading peace, much less democracy.

Insurgents strike our brave troops at will, and terrorists have not been stopped in the rest of the world. After the prison abuse scandals and the misery we have caused to the innocent citizens of Iraq, we are planting the seeds for future generations in the Middle East to hate us even more.

The “mission” looks as if it will never be accomplished, yet recent polls report that just under 40% of Americans still approve of how the Bush administration is handling the war.

My question is, who are these people? My guess is that they are those in the red states who still buy Bush and his neocon-spirators’ propaganda that somehow we are winning the war on terrorism.

My suggestion is, get over it and the rest of us will gladly welcome them back into the “united” states.

DARRELL S. BRECKENFELD

Corona

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Re “Stay the course, Mr. President,” Opinion, Aug. 8

Frederick Kagan says the situation in Iraq is “positive” because, after all, it’s “far better than it ever was when we were fighting guerrillas in Vietnam, or when the Soviets were fighting the Afghan mujahedin.” Hardly reassuring, given that both were utter catastrophes.

The hawks have gone from “we’ll be greeted as liberators and it will be a cakewalk” to “at least it’s not Vietnam.” The fact that the V-word is turning up in non-sarcastic comparisons to Iraq even among stay-the-coursers like Kagan is illuminating.

FRANK SKRALY

Watertown, Mass.

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After reading the Aug. 11 article about Cindy Sheehan, I find her to be cynical. President Bush did not go to war to make his oil buddies rich, as she claimed. Saddam Hussein is gone. Many wanted terrorists have been captured. The Iraqis have their country back and can vote now. Our country has not been attacked since Sept. 11. Obviously, Bush has handled the war on terrorism well.

I don’t know what it will take to get it through to some people that sometimes war is necessary. We all know people have died in the war, including her son. But wars save lives too.

Many more American -- and Iraqi -- lives will also be saved by our aggressive war on terrorism, which the Iraq war is a part of.

JEFF JACKSON

Cypress