To the editor:

I hesitate to share my thoughts and feelings about possible war against Iraq without the benefit of hindsight at this current moment. In the Gulf War in 1991, I was sure it would be a long, costly war, but it wasn’t. However, former President Bush and the military failed to remove Saddam Hussein, so now Bush’s son is hoping to finish the job.

Recently, President Bush won a big victory in Congress that granted him the authority to attack Iraq if necessary. He doesn’t even have to have the approval of the United Nations. He can “go it alone,” as he has often stated, with or without U.N. approval and with or without our 1991 allies. However, he has promised that he would use military force only “if it proves necessary.”

I wish there were more caring people like Lora Jost who wrote “Mother’s vision” (Sept. 30) and expressed her deep concern about the loss of innocent children’s lives in any bombing or invasion of Iraq. Since I had a daughter in the army who risked her life in fighting in Iraq in 1991, I think I can understand how Lora might have “sleepless nights” about another war. Yet there are those who clamor for war and ridicule Lora and those who don’t.

I can only hope and pray that the president will keep his word and not start a war unless all other efforts fail and it truly proves necessary. Otherwise his promises are as worthless as his father’s “no new taxes” was.

Harold Piehler,

Lawrence