Iran remains in the crosshairs

Re “Congress must stop an attack on Iran,” Opinion, Feb. 5

Leonard Weiss and Larry Diamond show how fundamentally unserious the knee-jerk opposition to President Bush has become. Iran has been at war with the United States for 27 years, has been actively participating in the killing of American troops and has funded and armed Hezbollah to wage a proxy war in Lebanon. This same Iran continues to pursue nuclear weaponry and threaten Israel with extinction.

In the world of apologists, it is poor little Iran that is being bullied by the big, bad United States. Just what have we done to respond to all these acts of war perpetrated by Iran? Why, we have shunned Iran regularly. It is long past time for Iran to pay a price for its meddling.

PAUL BURICH

Los Gatos, Calif.

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Where exactly do Weiss and Diamond find something in the Constitution that prohibits the president from attacking Iran? Where do they find the ability of Congress to run or manage a war, or foreign policy? The Constitution is clear: The president is the commander in chief of the military. The Constitution is also very clear that the president conducts foreign policy.

How many more Americans shall die at the hands of Iranian-funded terrorism? There is a limit, and 535 members of Congress cannot know what those limits are, nor should they. They don’t have the information needed to make their views coagulate to a policy certainty. If the president orders an attack on Iran, the proper people in Congress will be consulted, and they will undoubtedly approve the attack, just as they did the attack on Iraq. That is a chore only the president can do, not Congress.

RAOUL LOWERY CONTRERAS

San Diego