The Hezbollah illusion

Re “A realist’s fantasy in four parts,” Opinion, July 28

Rosa Brooks suffers from the same delusion that many liberals are under these days. She thinks that we should talk to Hezbollah and other Islamic jihadist groups and listen to their grievances. Her solution: Eliminate the grievances and you eliminate the conflict. Unfortunately, the grievances they have will not be solved by investing our money or our political capital in spreading peace and prosperity.

What she and others who think like her don’t admit is that the Islamic jihadists’ grievances are that we exist and we are not Muslim. The solution to their grievances is for us to either convert to Islam or to become subservient to Islamic law. I don’t know about her, but to me that is pretty much of a conversation stopper.

GARY AMINOFF

Studio City

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Brooks suggests that if we were to eliminate the “legitimate grievances” of organizations such as Hezbollah, we would be on our way to eliminating the conflict. Does Brooks not understand that Hezbollah’s “legitimate grievance” is the pure existence of the state of Israel? In order to eliminate these grievances, the United States would have to literally destroy Israel. Ms. Brooks, come back to the real world.

ISAAC HIMMELMAN

Santa Monica