Bush Has Squandered World Support Since 9/11 Attacks

Should we go to war or not? No one can say for sure which action is best for the U.S. and the world. But one thing is a reality. President Bush and those who serve under him have squandered what may truly be the only positive thing to come out of the tragedy of 9/11. After receiving the care, sympathies and support of the people in other countries around the world, how could our leaders create such an incredibly negative opinion of us so quickly?

What possible public relations disaster could be worse? Are our foreign policies so arrogant and so blind to basic human relationships that in a mere year and a half after our losses people everywhere see us as the aggressors, the bad guys? This is what saddens and confuses me as a citizen of this great nation. And I’m disappointed and more than a little bit angry at Bush and his people, because their actions negate the only thing I have held on to as a positive to come from all those needless deaths. And now, it is gone.

Tom Buick

Mission Viejo

*

The hypocrisy continues. President Bush urges Americans to be calm while scaring them to death with his daily insistence on starting a war with Iraq, despite worldwide opposition. And Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld states that it would be murder and a war crime to use human shields against U.S. bombs but evidently sees nothing wrong with bombing and killing civilians when they are not used as shields (Feb. 20).

Bob Murtha

Santa Maria

*

There appear to be a couple of big, logical gaps in “This Road to Hell Is Paved With Bush’s Bad Choices,” John Judis’ long Feb. 20 commentary blaming George W. Bush for (just about) everything. If the Bush tax cuts are a major factor in prolonging the current slowdown, where are all the Democrats who should be demanding they be reversed and, while we’re at it, raised?

If Bush’s policies are all so wrongheaded, how come Secretary of State Colin Powell (the most highly admired man in America, by some polls) and half his department haven’t resigned in indignation? Are they really serious conservatives in moderate clothing? How can this be?

Terry E. Quinn

Tehachapi

*

Bravo, Mr. Judis! Given the extreme, combative, right-wing nature of the Bush administration, it is astonishing that its hallmark is less ideology than sheer, feckless incompetence. Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge, ship that duct tape to the Treasury and State departments.

Thomas Milo Somers

Fallbrook

*

President Bush has chosen to ignore the millions of war protesters worldwide. Might I offer an alternative? Instead of staging protests, antiwar organizers should solicit donations to the Republican National Committee. Modest contributions from most of the Americans who turned out this month should be enough to earn the elite “pioneers” fund-raiser status that oil and pharmaceutical executives enjoy.

In the modern American version of democracy, politicians feel free to disregard the voices of ordinary people. But a voice bearing millions of dollars always commands rapt and devoted attention.

Ted R. Marcus

Torrance