President Bush’s trip to iraq

Re “ ‘I’m Going to Read,’ Bush Said,” June 14

I feel that if President Bush’s trip had been accomplished when Saddam Hussein was still president, we would have saved a few hundred billion dollars, thousands of lives and better curtailed the activities of the terrorists. Bush’s trip came too late.

S.I. SALEM

Long Beach

*

Bush visits Iraq for the second time in three years? Sorry, I just can’t get excited about that. If Bush had been a relative, I would have written him out of my will a long time ago for not visiting more often. You would think that Bush, the father of this needless war, would have been more at its side, even after “mission accomplished,” to show that he was not a deadbeat dad.

JOSE Y. LOPEZ

Monterey Park

*

Memo to Karl Rove and the White House press team: Because Bush is clearly interested in taking semi-secret trips to exotic and dangerous locations where things aren’t going well to try to help his dismal poll numbers, I have a suggestion that would really turn public opinion. He might want to sneak away on Air Force One for a trip to the Arctic to see the erosion of the polar ice cap. For maximum political effect, I suggest he do this during an oil, gas and coal lobbying conference in Washington -- sort of a Nixon-goes-to-China move. To really add to the shock (and awe) value, he could watch “An Inconvenient Truth” as his in-flight entertainment. Imagine the poll bump this could generate, and if he paid attention as he looked out the plane window, it might just help to save our planet.

ANDREW CUSHNIR

Los Angeles