President and Senators Visit the Troops in Iraq

So President Bush sneaks into the Baghdad airport on Thanksgiving Day to pose for pictures, serve turkey and tell our troops how much they are appreciated. If his surprise had leaked out, Air Force One would have turned tail and gone back home under cover of darkness. Less than three hours later, he is back in the air.

At almost the same time, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) comes to Iraq and meets with the Iraqis and others working on humanitarian efforts (Nov. 29). She actually spent time with the people whose country we are occupying. Who has shown the world more courage and intelligent leadership? I think the “W” stands for wimp.

Suzanne Stone

Winnetka

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I’ve seen and read dozens of attacks on Bush for going to Baghdad over Thanksgiving, but I’ve not seen or heard one negative word about Queen Clinton’s trip. The president’s job is to lead this country; going to the troops living and dying in a dangerous land is part of that responsibility. Clinton’s trip was the photo op everyone is unjustly claiming for Bush. She has no business over there (most military people are Republicans and didn’t want to see her anyway). She wasted the taxpayers’ money by going.

Frank Gant

La Mirada

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Questions we need to ask about Bush’s secret visit to Iraq are: Was this a preemptive public relations attack, to be seen visiting our troops in Iraq prior to Sens. Clinton and Jack Reed (D-R.I.), who much earlier had scheduled trips to visit the troops on the day after Thanksgiving? And when can we expect Bush to take advantage of photo opportunities with our troops returning home to their families via Dover Air Force Base in body bags, or with those maimed and injured returning to long hospital stays?

Mary Buckley

Los Angeles

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Bravo to Bush for his trip to Baghdad. It’s not politics. It’s leadership.

Glynn Morris

Playa del Rey

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The Times marches in step with the Bush oil expeditionary force in defining success in Iraq. According to your Nov. 30 editorial, success is an Iraq on the road to democracy and the rule of law rather than the dictatorship of the ruthless Saddam Hussein.

Is this why we went to war? Is this why our troops are sitting ducks in an increasingly hostile land? Where are the weapons of mass destruction? Where is the proven connection with Al Qaeda? The Bush crusade has opened the door for a possible fanatical Islamic takeover in Iraq. If this happens, Hussein will look like a lightweight in comparison and America will be more vulnerable to terrorism than we were before this oil-driven, insane war.

Bob Constantine

Placentia

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So The Times wants Americans to give up a “grandiose vision” for Iraq and the Mideast, because that is being a “Pollyanna.” It is frightening to see a major U.S. newspaper be so timid, so unwilling to trust Americans to accomplish great deeds that would perhaps, finally, bring lasting peace to our world. Would you have given up halfway toward what were lengthy, but eventually rewarding, efforts to democratize Japan and Germany after World War II?

Paul Knopick

Laguna Hills

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Geoffrey Nunberg’s Nov. 30 commentary, “Them’s Fightin’ Words,” indicates that “some people” should be looking for new words to describe the Iraqis’ resistance to their conquest and occupation. Politicians have historically used words to put a spin on reality. The sooner the better it will be that the American public and Congress recognize the Iraqi resistance as being just that: “an armed resistance.” Historically it has been impossible to eliminate armed resistance against occupations and the sympathies of those occupied peoples for the resistance. The sooner the American public can organize some vocal political resistance of its own to rid itself of this humiliating situation that these neoconservative Bush administration crusaders have created, the better.

It scares me when our president states that it is our destiny to spread democracy to other parts of this world. We should mince no words when we confront our political representatives about the dangers of continuing on this “path of righteousness.” The medieval Crusaders couldn’t do it, and I think we should be smart enough to learn from history. The lives of our young generation depend on it.

Bob Tarango

Manhattan Beach

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Re “Arrests Turn Up Heat on Iraqi Fugitive,” Nov. 27: So now U.S. soldiers have taken into custody the wife and daughter of former Iraqi general Izzat Ibrahim, along with the son of Ibrahim’s doctor, for interrogation. Those tactics seem to me more like those of the SS troops in Nazi Germany or the Bolsheviks in the old Soviet Union. I wonder how the average Iraqi citizen feels about the arrest and interrogation of women and children.

Jean Strauber

Encino