An insiders’ look at the White House

Re “The White House cabal,” Opinion, Oct. 25

Finally, someone with knowledge of the inner workings of the Bush administration’s national security apparatus has clearly revealed that President Bush is a disaster. It would be laughable were it not measured by a tarnished image of our country around the globe, by America now in the crosshairs of terrorists everywhere and by the tragic loss of thousands of lives.

The U.S. has become the butt of jokes and derision worldwide, all because of the most reckless president in this country’s history.

RON HARDCASTLE

Los Angeles

*

Lawrence Wilkerson is not the first to give us a picture of the arrogant faith of key figures in a revisionist philosophy that is still fixated on the “lessons” of the Vietnam War. But it must be remembered that then-Secretary of State Colin Powell played a critical role in selling the shoddy “facts” of Iraq and WMD. If we are in a quagmire in Iraq today, it is largely because Powell chose loyalty over the truth. He may be a good man, but it only takes a few good people, who see a wrong and choose to clean “all the dog poop” off the White House carpet, to let evil prevail.

WILLIAM BURDEN

Solvang

*

Wilkerson unwittingly reveals why the Bush administration was wise in circumventing the entrenched Washington bureaucracy. Voters had the chance to weigh in on Bush’s policies in 2004. The result was not overwhelming, but clear. Wilkerson should have busied himself with implementing those policies. Instead, he oozes disdain for the “youthful, inexperienced” president he was supposed to be serving. Wilkerson’s “secretive, little-known cabal” consists of some of the most visible public figures in the world: the secretary of Defense and the vice president. These are the very positions designated to advise the president in the National Security Act, whose purpose Wilkerson claims they’re undermining.

Wilkerson’s real beef is that he disagreed with the president. Thank God he’s out of government. And thank God for the “secret” White House cabal.

BILL IRELAND

Ontario