Takes issue with statements on Iraq War, Bush presidency

Greg Bean's column, "These Days Many Soldiers Just Want War To End" ("Coda," Sentinel, July 26), states that many young men and women in the military "no longer have faith in their leadership to tell them the truth," "no longer believe that a victory is probable, or possible" and that "many of them simply want out." He utilizes items from The New York Times to substantiate his opinions and concludes that George W. Bush is the worst president in history.

Some suggestions to Mr. Bean. Read and quote from The Wall Street Journal instead of The New York Times regarding the Iraq War and the performances of our two most recent presidents. Doing such would give him some different insights. Mr. Bean does not provide any opinions regarding what would happen in the Middle East if we packed up and left precipitously. Iran and Syria and other terrorist states would swoop into Iraq and other parts of the Middle East, causing a genocide of major proportions, and the state of Israel would be put in jeopardy.

Democrats such as John Kerry and Barack Obama don't believe such would be the result if we left Iraq, nor did John Kerry and many Democrats believe similar results would occur in 1973 when we withdrew from Vietnam. We know, however, that following our withdrawal Hanoi imprisoned 1 million Vietnamese, of whom 165,000 perished. We know that when Laos and Cambodia fell, more than 40,000 Laotians were imprisoned, and we know that the killing fields of Cambodia produced approximately 2 million dead.

Does Mr. Bean ever examine the history of terrorism during President Bill Clinton's administration? In 1993 the World Trade Center was bombed. In October 1993, 18 Americans were killed in Somalia. In November 1995 five Americans were killed and 30 were wounded by a car bomb in Saudi Arabia. In June 1996 U.S. Air Force housing in Saudi Arabia was bombed by Muslim extremists. In November 1997 Iraq refused to allow United Nations weapons inspectors to do their jobs. In August 1998 U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania were bombed. In October 2000 the warship USS Cole was attacked, with the loss of many American lives. During and after these events, President Clinton did nothing, and the lack of proper and forceful action emboldened the terrorists in the Middle East.

I challenge Mr. Bean regarding his evaluation of President Bush's presidency. I'm sure that when history is written some 20-50 years from now, President Bill Clinton will rank far lower than President George W. Bush.

My last comments relate to the opinions/attitudes of our servicemen and servicewomen in Iraq in July 2007. From what I read and hear, the morale of our military personnel remains very high. They don't want to leave Iraq precipitously and do believe that our victory will occur.

Jim Toto

East Brunswick