U.S. Flunks Logic Test on War With Iraq

The front page of Sunday’s Times takes me back to Philosophy 101 and the days of trying to figure out those tricky problems in logic: if a and b and c, what is d?

(a) “Many States Face Gloomy Budget Choices,” the lead headline reads; (b) “N. Korea Shows Its Bluster Is No Bluff,” the article below it reads; (c) “Chasing Phantoms Across Afghanistan” (the longest article on the front page, about “ ‘The Untold War’ ... in which the enemy won’t fight and victory is undefinable”); which should lead to a conclusion that, (a) given all our national economic problems, and (b) the growing nuclear threat from North Korea, and (c) the proof from Afghanistan that we can’t win a war in that region, then (d) we should not attack Iraq?

Wrong! I flunk. (d) “Strategy Against Iraq Calls for Swift Attack” (fourth article on national issues). No, the whole country fails.

David R. Peck

Laguna Beach

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Historians often remark that there was no reason for World War I. There was no single overriding issue that would have demanded war. It resulted from national hubris and clumsy diplomacy on all sides.

Today the Bush administration is clumsily heading toward the possibility of war with the world of Islam plus North Korea-China. Why? Partly the administration’s hubris in thinking that America has been anointed to regulate the world, partly oil mercantilism and partly our one-sided diplomacy in the Middle East. Rumsfeld-Bush-Perle has got to wake up. What happened to the British empire could happen to the U.S.

Stephen J. Halasz

Desert Hot Springs

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I know how to control people in the terror business: Don’t buy their oil.

Carleton H. Ralston

Los Angeles

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Come on, Americans, why aren’t you crying out in horror! Remember when Hitler overran Poland and we did nothing? Remember when Russia rolled into Hungary and again we did nothing? Now our own president is about to lead us into an unprovoked war and still we are doing nothing. Sure, Saddam Hussein is an evil man, and yes, he runs a repressive regime, but so far he hasn’t hurt the U.S., nor can anyone prove he intends to.

Here we are, just recovering from the worst sneak attack in America’s history, and President Bush is about to spend billions we don’t have and commit untold American lives going after someone who had nothing to do with the real atrocity. Here’s our obsessed president on a frolic of his own, on a personal vendetta and we’re all doing nothing -- just watching. What are we, anyway? Blind, ignorant or so complacent that we just don’t care?

Maralys Wills

Santa Ana

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Here Bush is sending troops into Iraq, about to start a war ... and what is he doing? He’s vacationing in Texas with his dog!

Theresa M. Bentley

La Puente