War With Iraq: Don’t Seek to Appease

Re “Bush Solicits Foreign Allies on Iraq Plan,” Sept. 7: No war was ever prevented by appeasement. We are doomed to repeat what we haven’t learned from history. We appeased Hitler by giving him Czechoslovakia and Poland. The United Nations must demand that Iraq allow the search for weapons or be declared a rogue nation.

Marvin Landfield

Mission Viejo

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The White House’s much-desired invasion of Iraq would not only alienate us from most of our important allies but it would also seriously undercut the war on terrorism while costing billions of dollars and countless American lives. In other words, President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney pose a far greater threat to the unity and well-being of our country than Saddam Hussein ever could. Please stop these warmongering madmen before we have another Vietnam on our hands.

Daniel Epstein

Los Angeles

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No one is denying that Iraq is a problem. However, there are a multitude of reasons why not to begin a war on Iraq: We seem to be far from through in Afghanistan, and dividing our attention and resources is just stupid; we have little support around the world; it’s immoral and probably illegal; the main reasons for doing so are to deflect attention from Cheney’s problems. And the No. 1 reason for invading Iraq--to avenge Papa Bush.

Sharon Liveten

North Hollywood

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Re “Arab League Stands United Against the Threat of a U.S. Attack on Iraq,” Sept. 6: You quote Youssef ibn Alawi, Oman’s minister of state for foreign affairs, as saying: “If the United States invades Iraq, it will cause deep anti-American feeling and will provoke revenge and violence in Arab and Islamic countries.”

Should we risk losing the goodwill, loyalty and friendship we currently enjoy with the Arab-Islamic world merely to stop a homicidal dictator from getting his hands on nuclear weapons? Duh! Of course we should. These people already hate us. Anti-American feelings, revenge and violence already exist in the Arab-Islamic world. Why would we leave ourselves at Hussein’s mercy merely to appease people who already hate us?

Mitchell Harris

La Verne