The legitimacy of prewar intelligence

Thanks for your article “French Told CIA of Bogus Intelligence” (Dec. 11) and your reporting about German intelligence regarding the unreliability of the spy known as “Curveball” (“How U.S. Fell Under the Spell of ‘Curveball,’ ” Nov. 20). While many argue that the past is past, if we fail to care about a supposedly democratic government misleading its citizens, then democracy becomes a sham against its people, meaningless and useless.

CHARLES FINCH

Huntington Beach

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Now we learn the French told the U.S. that Iraq wasn’t buying uranium a year before Bush’s infamous 2003 State of the Union speech. It is clear Bush did not want to hear the truth, because he was obsessed with overthrowing Saddam Hussein for personal and political reasons. More than 2,100 Americans have died because of that obsession.

RALPH S. BRAX

Lancaster

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The Times on Dec. 11 heralds a report that the French warned us that Iraq wasn’t shopping in Africa for uranium. Please remember that in the State of the Union address, Bush correctly cited that it was the British who warned us Hussein was on this shopping trip. So we had intelligence from the Brits and the French. Which would you have tended to believe?

PAUL KNOPICK

Laguna Hills

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So another country has shown that the U.S. response in Iraq to the 9/11 attacks might have been manipulated. I guess even the word “response” isn’t correct, because it’s been shown that Iraq posed no immediate threat to the United States in the form of weapons of mass destruction, it had no links to Al Qaeda and nothing to do with the 9/11 attacks.

Response is something done in retaliation. However, in retaliation for France’s refusal to support us in the “war on terror” in Iraq, we decided as a nation to disgrace them by renaming their fries. The nation demanded “freedom fries” as its new national symbol for side orders. Obviously, in light of the revelations in the press about France, Germany, Italy and probably more to come, those ubiquitous fries will have to be renamed. I would like to throw out the first suggestions. How about “fraudulent fries”? Or perhaps a plate of “forgiveness fries”?

BLAIR CAUGHERTY

Palm Desert