Saddam Hussein

I salute Saddam Hussein for refusing to allow a bogus, never-ending, hypocritical certification of his destruction of weapons of mass destruction. The U.S. is not serious about eradicating weapons of mass destruction or we would have plenty of work to do at home to destroy tons of nerve gas and nuclear weapons. The U.S. government will not allow sanctions to be removed until the present world oil glut is over. Iraqi oil on the market would depress world oil prices even more and reduce oil company profits.

The people of Iraq are in dire need of food, schools and health care. The oil revenues of Iraq were historically used to build this infrastructure. These services have been denied far too long, causing hundreds of thousands of civilian deaths. It’s time to lift sanctions against Iraq, despite what might happen to corporate oil profits.

CHARLES WILKEN

Mar Vista

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[U.S. arms expert] Scott Ritter was right when he said that the U.S. administration and the U.N. are not interested in enforcing an arms control regime on Iraq. Preparations now underway to bomb Iraq into submission may wind up the machinery of surveillance now in place.

What Iraq is asking for is a timetable for ending sanctions that have affected the Iraqi people (and alienated them from the West altogether), in return for a continuous inspection regime. The U.S. and Britain are better off accepting this bargain, if control of weapons of mass destruction is the goal, because this will keep arms inspectors in Iraq. If there are other ulterior motives, like destabilizing and terrorizing the people and governments of the region into submission, then the current policy sounds meaningful, though immoral and risky. God save America. God save the Middle East.

BASHEER A. KHAN

Garden Grove