Letters: Aug. 4, 2003

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Peace Is Hell

"Young soldiers will continue to die in Iraq until the U.S. realizes it hasn't cornered the market on pride and love of country." BILL STRUBBE Oakland, Calif.

Your report "Life Under Fire," about the troops in Iraq, bore sad testimony to the failed postwar campaign [IRAQ: BATTLING THE CHAOS, July 14]. While Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld spars with journalists over the precise meaning of guerrilla war, Americans are suffering casualties on a daily basis, and their attempts to help the Iraqi people rebuild a country sputter and stall in the face of a security nightmare. No one in the U.S. government or military can take pride in the postwar situation. Instead of planning to protect Iraqis' most precious resources, we became helpless witnesses to the chaotic looting and sabotage of an entire country. HARRY TUBMAN Pleasant Valley, Conn.

I am sick of calls for the coalition forces to leave Iraq. The violence being perpetrated there is committed by gangs, some motivated by politics, others by criminal instincts; some are supporters of Saddam Hussein, others his most ardent opponents. Imagine if the coalition forces did withdraw! The slaughter that would follow would be devastating. The coalition forces are performing a function vitally needed by the Iraqi people and welcomed by most of them. The troops are acting under incredibly difficult circumstances. They are all that stands between Iraq and total chaos. TONY SOLMS Tzaneen, South Africa

Paul Bremer, head of the Coalition Provisional Authority, is an extraordinary man, and he is doing everything he can to help Iraq, which is badly in need of a new order. In guerrilla warfare, the most important strategy is to win the people's hearts. We need to advertise why we are in Iraq, get the Iraqi people on our side, let them help us eliminate the bad influences. Air daily TV and radio announcements on Iraq's current situation and what the U.S. is doing to change it. Make clear to the Iraqis the U.S.'s goals and objectives. The more the Iraqi people see and hear about what we are doing for them, the more they will be convinced of our purpose. ROBERT MA San Diego

You quoted Bremer as asking, "What's the alternative [to the U.S.'s rebuilding efforts]? Do you really think Iraq would be better off if we left?" My answer to that is yes. When the war started, I thought it was justified. I felt I should support my President in his decision, even though I have family members and friends in the military. Now the war is "over," yet U.S. soldiers are still being killed. How many more U.S. service members have to be killed before the troops can be pulled out for good? JUDY FALLON Shrewsbury, Mass.

Peace is not hell, contrary to your cover headline. There will never be peace so long as violence is used to attain it. President Bush and the military are not after peace; they are after power and control. Peace can be obtained only by nonviolence, understanding and cooperation. Many members of the coalition forces are dying, but it is not peace that is killing them; it is violence and the Bush Administration's goals. NICK ALVA Cotati, Calif.