We May Have ‘Won,’ but Don’t Flaunt It

Geraldine Baum hit the nail on the head about America’s victory parade mania (“Pat on the Back or a Slap in the Face?” June 4). There is something obscene about victory celebrations that last longer than a war.

The only result of our “victory” is that things are the same or worse than they were before Aug. 2, 1990. Saddam Hussein rules Iraq; Kuwait continues its own human rights violations; 100,000 Iraqis are dead from “victorious” bombs; the Middle Eastern sky is blackened by flaming oil wells.

To celebrate these events in so manic a fashion--and to have the Pentagon spend millions of dollars doing it--merely shows how desperate America is to have a good time rather than to face reality. Maybe one of the parades should have a float of Nero fiddling.

Since publicity-hungry corporate America is funding the majority of the endless Gulf War victory parades, next time they should cut out the middleman and simply fund the war. “Gulf War II sponsored by Pepsi and AT&T;” will still give them publicity (and will) also save our overburdened budget.

WILLIAM S. SIMMONS

Los Angeles