When It Comes to Threats, Just Who Is the Terrorist?

How ironic that the Dec. 11 article about Jimmy Carter receiving the Nobel Peace Prize was side by side with “Nukes Part of Terror Policy,” as it continued on A5, declaring that nuclear weapons are part of the administration’s threat to use preemptive force against Iraq.

As the U.N. inspectors scour Iraq for signs of weapons of mass destruction, the U.S. boasts that we have lots of them and are ready to use them. No surprise, we are the lone nation that has ever used them.

This is not a threat to Saddam Hussein but a threat initially to all life in the area, human and otherwise. It is ultimately a threat to all life on this green planet.

Nuclear weapons do not seek out “evildoers” but cause mass destruction of all life.

Let us listen to Carter, who said “global challenges must be met with an emphasis on peace, in harmony with others” and “we will not learn to live together in peace by killing each other’s children.” As Ralph Bunche was quoted, “The world has ample evidence that war begets conditions which beget further war.”

Margaret Davis

La Verne

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In an effort to deter terrorists, the Bush administration has announced plans to use nuclear weapons in the event that it perceives an imminent attack using weapons of mass destruction. Who are the real terrorists now? I suppose we should go look in a mirror.

Michael Pierson

Bermuda Dunes

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How inept can the U.N. inspectors be? President Bush, several months ago, had hard evidence that Iraq not only had nuclear and biological weapons but was ready to use them. These dolts who are on the ground with Sherlock Holmes-like magnifying glasses can’t find a thing. Maybe they’re not communicating with Bush. Or maybe what Bush actually saw was oil and not WMD. This is an easy mistake to make.

Brooks W. Wilson

Fallbrook

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Does anyone remember a president named Lyndon Johnson whose Texas-sized ego may have prevented objective decisions regarding Vietnam? And does anyone find anything similar in the Iraq situation and the present leadership?

R.W. Tolbert

Long Beach