Hard hitting Letters to Editor:

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Letters to the editor



Seattle Times







Hostile depths
Evasive maneuvers: Revising the course of war's history

Editor, The Times:

President Bush lied again. During his speech on Veterans Day he lashed out at critics accusing them of rewriting history by reminding us that the Congress and Senate voted in favor of the war in Iraq <"President fires back at criticsz," Times page one, Nov. 11>. That is simply not a truthful statement.

The joint resolution the president refers to was intended as a vote of support to the president's efforts to get U.N. weapons inspectors into Iraq to verify the state of Iraq's weapons program. The "credible threat of war" was needed, according to the administration, to ensure the full cooperation of the Iraqi government. The resolution to authorize force was meant as a last resort, if all other efforts failed.

Immediately thereafter, the president set about preparing the invasion, abandoning all other means. Additionally, the weapons-inspection team led by Hans Blix was vilified in the Republican-friendly media. Bush, Dick Cheney and the rest fanned out to criticize the U.N. team. They said the Iraqi government was playing cat and mouse, and that they could not wait for a "smoking gun in the shape of a mushroom cloud."

As we now know, the planning for the Iraq invasion began months before the resolution authorizing the use of force as a last resort was obtained. The president lied to the Congress, lied to the Senate and lied to the American people.

The truthful history of this sad chapter is not being rewritten, it is being exposed.

— Steve Daley, Seattle

Parrots vocabulary

Who said the following?

"If Saddam can cripple the weapons-inspection system and get away with it, he would conclude that the international community — led by the United States — has simply lost its will. He will surmise that he has free rein to rebuild his arsenal of destruction, and someday — make no mistake — he will use it again as he has in the past. The hard fact is that, so long as Saddam remains in power, he threatens the well-being of his people, the peace of his region, the security of the world. ... If Saddam defies the world and we fail to respond, we will face a far greater threat in the future. Saddam will... develop weapons of mass destruction. He will deploy them, and he will use them."

It was Bill Clinton. Clinton attacked Iraq (Operation Desert Fox) with the aid of one country in 1998. He did it without the approval of the U.N. He launched some 200 cruise missiles against Saddam Hussein. There were no war protesters then. There was no talk of "it's all for oil." As a condition of a cessation of hostilities in the first Gulf War, Saddam agreed to disarm. He has violated the original treaty many times over.

If George Bush lied and deceived us, then so did Clinton and most Democratic leaders who parroted him.

— Jack Leicester, Shoreline

The secret manifest

If George Bush's speech and his charges that those in Congress who voted for the war saw all the same information he did, then he and all Republicans should not be afraid to turn over every piece of classified material at their disposal to an independent commission to prove he is telling the American public the truth. Perhaps the president doth protest too much.

— Glenda Tecklenburg, Mill Creek

Hugging the shore

President Bush has declared his love and support for democracy and freedom many times, including in his Inaugural Address. And yet I heard that he delivered his Veterans Day speech in front of a carefully screened audience. If true, this is the act of a man who is scared of democracy, not one who embraces it.

— Frank Brown, Seattle

Take the top bunk

I am now more than ever convinced of The Seattle Times' bias regarding Iraq. Once again, a story favorable to the Bush administration is buried far back, on page A11 <"Insurgents clash with al-Qaida," News, Nov. 11>.

This is an article revealing that the Saddam insurgents and their al-Qaida allies have had a significant falling out. To wit, they are shooting at one another. If this had happened to our Axis enemies during World War II, it would have merited front-page headlines and filled our side with well-deserved hope.

Think of it, our enemies are killing one another and The Times chooses to play it down. Heaven forbid the Bush strategy might indeed pay off. Now we can't have that, can we?

— Howard Wolf, Seattle

Lower the lifeboats

"Jordan attack indicates spread of Iraq violence" shows the extent of success George Bush has had for including Iraq in his so-called "war on terror." Only a moron can fail to see that Iraq provides the ultimate recruitment for a jihad against Western powers, and that it is the perfect training ground for future terrorists to refine their techniques for killing in urban environments.

Thanks to President Bush, in the future, The Seattle Times will undoubtedly have the opportunity to report on similar attacks here in America.

— Duane Grindstaff, Kent