U.N. Inspection of Iraqi Records

William Pfaff (Commentary, July 26) is so caught up in the minutiae of the conflict that he has lost perspective. Iraq is a member of the United Nations. As such, it agrees to forgo armed aggression against its neighbors to resolve disputes.

Kuwait was also a member of the United Nations. As such, it was entitled to the sovereignty and integrity of its nation.

It does not matter that the Sabah family was or is unpopular. That is a matter for the Kuwaitis to address. It doesn’t even matter that the West needs Kuwaiti oil, or that Hussein suffers from megalomania.

What does matter is that this was the last chance for the world body to achieve the major purpose for its existence, to guarantee the sovereignty and territorial integrity of member nations.

The United States did not go to war against Iraq. The United Nations did. Bush had no authority to invade Iraq and remove Saddam Hussein. His mandate was to recover Kuwait and return it to its people. He did just that. He stopped the war and the killing by, and of, Americans at the first instance that this mission was accomplished.

As to Pfaff’s assertions that boycotts and other such reprisals should have been used make me weep or laugh. Thirty years of boycotts against Cuba has not changed the leadership or politics of that nation. It did nothing to change the rulers of China. North Korea seems to have survived, as has Vietnam. It took decades to make such tactics work against South Africa, if indeed it has worked there.

Meanwhile, the people of Iraq will suffer longer and, in many ways, worse, than if subjected to bombings.

JIM RUST

West Covina