Tabulating the cost of the war in Iraq

Re “In Rare Talk of War Casualties, Bush Says 30,000 Iraqis Killed,” Dec. 13

The cost of the Iraq war is measurable: 2,389 allied troops killed; 30,000 Iraqi civilian deaths; more than 75 journalists killed to date; and a war that costs $122,000 per minute.

Benefits: Zero weapons of mass destruction found; Iraq has become the suicide bombing capital of the world; a new Islamist state will be aligned with Iran; and terrorists have moved into Iraq, where there were none.

Do not call it the Bush war; call it Bush’s folly.

ROBERT PISAPIA

Westlake Village

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Re “For Troops’ Families, War Debate Not a Major Morale Issue,” Dec. 10

Has a poll of the troops and their families been taken to determine if their morale has been adversely affected by Bush’s advocacy for and support of torture?

If the poll repudiated Bush’s position, what would be its effect?

Does Bush care about the troops’ morale, or is he just reframing the issue of dissent?

ROBERT CASTLE

Redlands

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I feel the continuing war debate is a blow to morale. Good news is hard to come by in today’s media when it comes to Iraq, but the continuous questioning of the legitimacy of the war doesn’t help. It takes a huge toll on our feelings of accomplishment and purpose, and it is a topic of discussion among the troops. Those who say otherwise don’t know what they are talking about. We do indeed focus mostly on the mission, but it’s simply all we have to hold on to. There was little patriotism from my standpoint. Everyone just wanted to earn a ticket home, and the only way to do that was to complete our mission.

SPC. ALBERT M. JOO

Los Angeles

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“We are a nation at war,” I heard a White House speaker say the other day. Are we? Did the president declare a state of mobilization? Has he asked us for sacrifice? Is there rationing, compulsory service, war-bond drives, air-raid drills, “Uncle Sam wants you” posters, anything? Or is it just 19-year-old volunteers doing the dying (and coming home in coffins we must not see), while for the rest of us it is business as usual? Some “nation at war.”

HERB HOFFMAN

Newport Beach