Boot’s positions on Israel, peace activists

Re “Messed up are the peacemakers,” Opinion, Aug. 2

Max Boot seems surprised that Israel is held to a different standard from Muslim terrorists. But isn’t that what we want? Shouldn’t we expect democratic nation states to behave better? Shouldn’t we demand they behave in accordance with values that we hold dear? Shouldn’t we be horrified if troops kill civilians even if terrorists do it? Shouldn’t we be distressed if Israeli bombs kill civilians even if Hezbollah targets them? Isn’t that what makes us different? I hold the U.S. to a higher standard and I hold Israel to a higher standard, and I think we all should.

PETER GRIFFITHS

Santa Monica

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Benjamin Franklin wrote that there was never a good war or a bad peace. Boot, on the other hand, apparently believes there was never a bad war or a good peace. Boot argues that an acceptable peace can only be brought about through “decisive military action.” However, all too often wars prove to be pointless, blood-soaked affairs that ultimately engender only further war.

For that matter, what has decisive military action gotten us in Boot’s beloved war in Iraq? Besides, Boot’s entire adult life seems to have been spent writing in the air-conditioned offices of newspapers and think tanks. Let’s put him where the bombs are dropping and the shrapnel is flying; let him triage the wounded and bury the dead. Then let’s see if he still believes peace activism is the last refuge of the scoundrel.

CHRISTOPHER WILHELM

West Hollywood

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Boot thinks that peace activists have no place in the world. Suppose they did sit down and shut up. Would he really like the wars in Iraq and Lebanon to grow and combine into one big war? Would he like to see it turn into World War III? Perhaps a limited nuclear exchange would make him happy, with North Korea selling Iran some plutonium to use against Israel. The trouble is that war has a tendency of spreading into your own backyard, because war pushes weapons technology and military tactics into unknown areas.

STEVE HARRINGTON

Cardiff, Calif.