Letter: Iraq not essential to terrorism fight

Friday, July 2, 2004 | 8:25 a.m.

President Bush and his aides have made numerous irreversible errors of judgment, not the least of which is their underestimation of the intelligence of the American people. Having the best spin doctors cannot hide the fact that the pre-Bush budget surpluses have been replaced by massive deficits, that we were misled into a war that will keep our troops mired in Iraq for years and that we have alienated many of our closest allies to a point that worldwide respect for the United States is at its lowest point in our nation's history.

The opportunity to fight a global war on terrorism was lost when the decision was made to remove Saddam Hussein, whose ties to worldwide terrorism were never clearly established and henceforth turned out to be nonexistent. History had clearly established that he was a loathsome ruler, but his immediate threat to our security was zero.

Billions of dollars that could have been directed to fighting a real war on terrorism must now continue to be thrown into the Iraq abyss. Although our brave young people have succeeded in every task they have undertaken during this ill-conceived war, as we approach 900 dead and many thousands injured and maimed, I find it difficult to rationalize their sacrifices under the pretext of protecting American citizens from terrorists.

PHIL VENTURA