Inaccurate parallels

Re: your Aug. 25 Opinion page cartoon:

In trying to show the parallels between Vietnam and Iraq, I believe the artist misrepresented the truth.

To accurately demonstrate the parallels there should have been more than 10 caskets for Vietnam compared to the one for Iraq.

— Bill Moak,

Simi Valley

Don't create Pol Pot II

Re: your Aug. 23 article, "A free Iraq' is in reach, Bush says":

I was dismayed to hear President Bush's comments on Vietnam. I remember our history in Vietnam very differently and believe the president is trying to justify continuing the war in Iraq.

According to Robert McNamara, secretary of defense at the time, our war in Vietnam killed at least 3.4 million people, mostly women and children. Many were burned alive by napalm.

It was truly an atrocity of immense proportion. We certainly didn't leave too soon.

Events after the war weren't as bad as Bush would have us believe. Not long ago, Bush visited Vietnam, celebrated our restored trade relations and later hosted the Vietnamese president in the White House.

It is true, however, that many thousands of Vietnamese, who had collaborated with Americans and weren't given visas to go to the United States before we left at the war's end, suffered in re-education camps. We must not let this happen again. We owe visas to those Iraqis whose lives are in jeopardy because they have worked with the U.S.

After U.S. occupation troops leave Iraq and Iraqis sort out how their own country (or countries) will be run, we have a responsibility to repair what we have destroyed and help restore a viable economy.

The U.S. invasion of Cambodia, which President Nixon tried to keep secret from Congress and the American people, led to empowerment of Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge's killing fields. Bush neglects to mention that the United States did nothing to stop the Khmer Rouge, whom we had enabled.

It wasn't until after we stopped killing Vietnamese that Vietnam was able to use its military to overthrow the Khmer Rouge.

Don't just take my words or Bush's as the truth — verify it from the historical record.

— Gordon Clint,

Newbury Park

Bush flunks history

Re: your Aug. 23 article, "A free Iraq' is in reach, Bush says":

President Bush's belief that a "free" Iraq is within reach and that our history with Vietnam supports our troops remaining in Iraq until victory is achieved demonstrates just what a poor student of history Bush is.

History looks back on our entry into conflict in Vietnam as a mistake, as the "domino" theory proved no more true than the existence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Once we erred into involvement in Vietnam, history also finds that we could have, and should have, left much sooner than we did. The only thing worse than being involved in a civil war is being a foreign occupying power trying to resolve a civil war between the participants.

History is tragically repeating itself. After ignoring history for six years, for Bush to now try to invoke history to support continuing our troops' involvement is adding insult to injury. He has proved he has little ability to understand the past. His ability to make decisions and to predict the future is even more questionable.

— Bill Hessell,

Oak View