To the editor:

“Axis of Evil,” or just a cute “Get Out of Jail” card for President Bush? When his Axis of Evil baloney first broke the news headlines last fall, President Bush lost much of his credibility with the leaders of the rest of the Western world, and many political commentators and politicians the world over indicated their disquiet.

Having already unilaterally reneged on previously agreed environmental and ABM treaties, now here he was deciding to attack at will countries of his choosing. The president of the United States, elected with no overall majority, is committing ordinary, decent Americans to the likelihood of even more terrorist attacks, gambling with our lives and fortunes and committing American troops to his own personal crusade. And simply to divert attention away from his mishandling of more or less everything, from his inability to string a coherent sentence together, to his own dubious financial dealings, and to his mishandling of the fraudulent accounting fiasco currently hitting hard on Wall Street, American businesses and our 401(k)s. Is it really a coincidence that his intended timing of going to war with Saddam coincides with the forthcoming elections in November? I think not.

Saddam Hussein needs to be controlled and monitored more closely than he is, and his stock-piling of weapons of mass-destruction needs to be terminated and reversed. But is this the way to do it?

We should ask ourselves: Are we really prepared to go to war when it is both personally and politically motivated? Anyone remember Vietnam?

Philip Deamer,

Lawrence