On the attack against the war

Re “U.S. Voices Concern on Direction of Iraq Charter,” July 27

Just as it was never the Bush administration’s plan to invade Iraq in order to neutralize that country’s weapons of mass destruction programs, it was neither its intention to create an Islamic republic in place of Saddam Hussein. The time is right for the president to declare victory by virtue of the Iraqi government’s completion of its new constitution and then announce his intention to remove our troops before the end of 2005.

By allowing the Iraqi government to conduct its own affairs free of American influence and by showing that the U.S. military has no plans to remain in Iraq permanently, Bush can undercut the insurgency’s chief reasons for creating violence, chaos and resistance.

Rob Schweber

Los Angeles

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Re “Army Probes Guard Unit,” July 27

A National Guard unit -- conscripted into an unjustified war outsourced to corporate political contributors in noncompetitive bidding by a dishonest government violating international law and justifying the use of torture -- is suspected of abusing prisoners and extorting civilians in Iraq. Who could have seen it coming?

Patti Cottrell Grant

Riverside

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Please tell me if I’ve misunderstood part of “Allegations Against Dog Handlers Are Described” (July 27), because I seem to have read that “a dog was used to frighten two juvenile detainees, described as about 10 and 14 years old.” Ten and 14 years old? Are there children in Abu Ghraib?

Claudia Castle

Yucaipa

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A July 27 letter writer deludes himself in thinking that reporting facts is “propaganda.” Reporting facts, however unpleasant they may be, is what a free press in a democracy does. It’s very interesting that so many proponents of “bringing democracy to the Middle East” seem to have a problem with democracy here at home.

Gerald Kelly

Santa Monica