A deal for Iraq and Middle East

Re “How to cut and run,” Opinion, Oct. 31

Lt. Gen. William E. Odom, with painful honesty, tells us the war in Iraq has always been a lost cause and more American casualties will be in vain. Odom knows our president’s reasons for invading Iraq are based on a “conjured set of illusions.” President Bush wrongly believes democracy can be forced on a civilization, yet history teaches us democracy only happens with the consent of the people it governs.

No matter how repugnant Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s rhetoric is, we and our European allies must make concessions to create diplomatic ties with this country to prevent the Middle East from exploding.

The biggest roadblock to peace in Iraq and the Middle East is Bush’s vain refusal to admit he is wrong. His reputation and that of the Republican Party is apparently more important to him than the lives of American soldiers.

HELEN LOGAN

Fullerton

*

Odom presents a thoughtful analysis of what it will take to stabilize the Middle East, but I would argue that the success of the first three initiatives he suggests hinges on the fourth.

The United States has created so much suspicion and ill will throughout the world by indulging Israel for decades and blocking meaningful concessions required to achieve a just peace. Only a major shift in Washington’s position will convince allies to trust our motives and lend a hand.

KEN GALAL

San Francisco

*

After reading Odom’s commentary, I sat slack-jawed at how such an individual could ever have made it to any type of leadership position. It takes no brains to come up with a plan for defeat. Even I could do that. Odom’s plan could better be labeled, “Victory through letting the world cave in on us.”

I am sure Israel would love his plan to allow Iran to have a nuclear bomb. I am sure Israelis would be thanking him right up to the moment Iran wipes them off the map.

MICHAEL CREGAN

Santa Barbara