Foreign Policy Expertise Is Crucial

Re “Dean Aims to Plug ‘Hole’ in Resume,” Dec. 22: Howard Dean should be commended for his honesty in admitting that he lacks foreign policy and national security experience. Unfortunately for him, this is not a problem that can be remedied by choosing the right running mate. It’s not just a “resume problem,” as the former Vermont governor puts it. It’s a critical shortcoming going into the first presidential election since 9/11. If the Democrats want to have any chance of replacing George W. Bush, they’re going to need a nominee with experience in building international coalitions, negotiating peace treaties and leading our troops during times of war. Only one candidate, Gen. Wesley Clark, meets that standard.

Stuart Woltz

Tarzana

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In ’52 I was a Young Republican working as a volunteer for Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower. Fifty-two years later I am neither young nor a Republican. I have, however, another general to support, Clark -- may he become our newly elected president in 2004. He is, in my view, the only one of the gang of nine who has addressed our multifaceted problems at home and abroad and put forward a constructive agenda for solutions.

He is doing this without either flagrantly damning the present administration or waffling to protect his incumbency. Nor is he rabble-rousing to gain support.

Buff Brazy Given

Los Angeles

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Saddam Hussein has been captured, Al Qaeda is on the run and Libya’s Moammar Kadafi has agreed to disarm his nuclear and chemical weapons. Clearly, the Bush administration has made the world a safer place, and he deserves reelection. Give it up, Howard Dean.

Jeff Jackson

Cypress

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Thank you for your articles on the Democratic primary candidates. In these perilous times, the fact that front-runner Dean needs to “plug the hole in his resume” with a vice president who has defense and foreign policy experience is not comforting. We’ve seen the results of such a “split ticket” in the current administration. Clark seems like a good man, but, as with Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina, his lack of political and policy experience is troubling.

My idea of a dream ticket would be either one of those men as backup to the broad-based military, defense, foreign policy, environmental and domestic experience of Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts. He is the one candidate not in need of on-the-job training.

Alitta Kullman

Laguna Hills