Readers React: If only George W. Bush had ‘vacillated’ on Iraq

To the editor: Jonah Goldberg is wrong about so many things in his column that rather than a writing a point-by-point rebuttal, I’ll employ the Socratic method and ask a few pertinent questions. (“Obama is rushing into war against Islamic State,” Op-Ed, Sept. 15)

How did it work when President George W. Bush boldly decided to plunge the U.S. into war in Iraq? How much in the way of unfunded costs were generated by that decision? How many innocent Iraqis have been killed because of Bush’s lack of vacillation?

How much of an analogy can be drawn between Bush’s decision to invade Iraq looking for weapons of mass destruction and the tale of Pandora’s jar and the “ills” that removing the lid loosed upon the world? How many of the world’s ills, when it comes to terrorist activities, can still be traced to the Iraq invasion?

Let us celebrate a president who “vacillates” before going to war.

Mike Kilgore, Mar Vista

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To the editor: President Obama does not have a grand strategy but only reacts to the polls being taken at the time. Whether this is for political gain or necessity or from an inherent empathy for what is occurring may be left up to the public to decide.

When Islamic State came into being, Obama followed the American public, which indicated in surveys that it did not want to get involved. However, after the brutal beheading of two Americans and the media coverage of the atrocities committed by Islamic State, the mood of the public changed on intervening in the conflict.

The reaction of Obama was almost immediate, and intervention was called for.

The question that should be asked is whether the president, who has been said to lead from the rear rather than from the front, is being driven not by humanitarian concerns but by political motives.

Nelson Marans, Silver Spring, Md.

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To the editor: I ask Goldberg in his critique of Obama to consider this (to borrow from Barry Goldwater): Vacillation in the name of trying not to kill people is no vice.

Peter Katz, Sherman Oaks

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