Dangerous mistakes in the Mideast

In “Deal Reflects Shift in Bush’s Expectations,” an Aug. 15 news analysis on how the cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah is a disappointment to the current administration, President Bush is quoted as saying, “We want peace. We’re not interested in process. What we want is results.”

In three concise sentences, the president has revealed why he and his associates will one day be recognized for their incompetence, arrogance and ignorance. After all, it’s the process if one wants a desired result, and the president, with his ends-justify-means approach to bringing peace, harmony and democracy to the world, has at the current time accomplished the opposite. We now find ourselves in a world where the results of his actions are instability, animosity, suffering and death. Not interested in process and want results? That’s a recipe for failure and an attitude of a person (or group) without a conscience who doesn’t care about the consequences of his actions, as long as the desired results are achieved.

DAN GERSTEN

Agoura Hills

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Re “A Defiant Hezbollah Rises From the Rubble,” news analysis, Aug. 15

Bush says Israel won this war. Other than not retrieving the two captured soldiers who were the reason for this chaos, Israel has just greatly reduced its chances of long-term survival. I would like to see Israel survive, but it is ultimately a war of demographics. Can Israel continue to maintain a significant enough population of Jews or people associated with Jews to continue to exist in a region filled with people who hate them? Israel needs to make friends with its neighbors and not engage in bullying tactics that make its neighbors wish for its demise.

ERICA HAHN

Huntington Beach