War as a Fountain of Business Profits

Re “Bush Defends Reasons for War,” July 13: I’m not sure how anyone in the executive or legislative branches can seriously blame the intelligence gatherers for the faulty data upon which many of them now claim their decision-making on a preemptive invasion of Iraq was predicated.

If our intelligence agencies were unable to uncover a long-planned, well-coordinated attack within these very United States, why would anyone think these agencies could provide information with an acceptable level of certainty about existing weapons in a country across the world to which access was largely cut off?

In the wake of the obvious 9/11 intelligence failures, for members of Congress and the administration not to vigorously question the intelligence regarding the existence of weapons of mass destruction or the alleged Iraq-Al Qaeda connections is a much bigger failure on their part than the intelligence agencies that provided the faulty data.

Christopher G. Blood

San Diego

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Re “Advocates of War Now Profit From Iraq’s Reconstruction,” July 14: After the 9/11 attacks, the Bush administration started beating the drums for war with Iraq based on evidence that if we didn’t attack Iraq first, it would attack the U.S.

The administration said it had conclusive evidence indicating an alliance between Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein and that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction, which could be used against the U.S.

According to the recent Senate intelligence report, there is no evidence indicating an alliance between Bin Laden and Hussein and, as we all know, there were no weapons of mass destruction. So what possible reason could there have been to go to war? The answer is obvious: to make money.

President Dwight Eisenhower warned of the military-industrial complex. Wars make money for a lot of people, and the war against Iraq is a clear example of that.

Thomas R. Tefft

Palm Desert

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Postpone the election in case of terrorist attacks? American taxpayers are coughing up billions to keep our military in Iraq during a civil war we caused so that business leaders who promoted the war can profit. Meanwhile, citizens too young to have voted for or against the current administration have to worry about a [potential] draft. It looks as if we’re already under attack. Maybe we should hold the election sooner.

Bob Carlson

Garden Grove

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Nice juxtaposition of stories on your July 14 front page, with “Advocates of War Now Profit From Iraq’s Reconstruction” placed alongside “A More Subtle Mafia.”

The distinction being ... ?

Russell Johnson

Marina del Rey