Rumsfeld may be right, but he’s also wrong

Re “You can’t appease terrorists,” Opinion, Sept. 1

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld is correct -- we should not appease terrorists. Unfortunately, he is fighting the wrong war. What we are doing in Iraq does nothing to stem terrorism -- never has and never will. But it is surely killing a lot of people, destroying an entire nation’s infrastructure and actually giving our enemies more reasons to attack us.

The British and Germans did more in the fight against terrorism than we have in Iraq when they recently broke up terrorist cells in their countries. In the end that is how we too will have to do it: one cell at a time.

KARL F. SCHMID

Los Angeles

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Rumsfeld sets up the straw man that he can proceed to knock down. I am one of the many who think our misadventure in Iraq is a disaster and a distraction from the complexity of really dealing with terrorism. Appeasement is not the alternative to responsible foreign policy no matter how the Bush administration frames it. I don’t long for the Cold War, but I do dream of a return to a time when the United States was regarded as a world leader. I fear, however, that the damage done by Rumsfeld and his cohorts may be irreversible.

BARBARA H. BERGEN

Los Angeles

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Rumsfeld is right; we do face a different kind of challenge today. The question is whether he is up to the job. “Blame America first”? Absolutely not. Blame poor leadership first.

ROBERT P. JACKSON

Apple Valley