The responsibility for deciding to go to war

Re “A president can pull the trigger,” Opinion, Dec. 20.

John Yoo gives an interesting history lesson on wars. However, I think we need to take a broader view. Yoo writes: “The framers understood that war would require the speed, decisiveness and secrecy that only the presidency could bring.” President Bush not only attacked Iraq with speed and decisiveness, he declared victory there with equal haste. As far as secrecy goes, ask Valerie Plame about that one.

The framers couldn’t have foreseen an administration so riddled with contradictions. Perhaps Bush acted legally in his declared or undeclared war in Iraq. The better question is, did this Christian president act morally? A president can pull the trigger, but don’t we have the responsibility to make sure he uses the gun properly?

He’s not just shooting cans off a fence in Crawford anymore.

JUDE STABILER

Century City

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Yoo is right; however, he must take into account that the framers of our Constitution were assuming that whoever sat as president of the United States would be a well-read, open-minded, smart, intelligent, deep-thinking and knowledgeable person who would make this judgment in a wise way. That a decision to go to war would be based on facts (not assumptions and bias) and that it would be something that would be for the common good, not for the political good of the president’s ego.

PAZ CORTEZ

Staten Island, N.Y.