To the editor:

The irony of Jim Morris’ (Oct. 21) tirade against the “brainwashing of the liberal news and entertainment media” is that he succumbed to the White House’s brainwashing regarding connections between Saddam Hussein and the events of Sept. 11. When Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, the U.S. retaliated against Japan. When al-Qaida attacked on 9-11, the U.S. retaliated against the Taliban regime in Afghanistan with enormous popular support.

How was war on Iraq retaliation for 9-11? No Iraqi terrorists were on the planes that slammed into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, and no connection between Saddam and al-Qaida was evident. Osama bin Laden, a Saudi Arabian based in Afghanistan, opposed Saddam’s regime in Iraq because it represented a secular government, not Islamic fundamentalism. The White House conflated Iraq with 9-11 in order to stir American emotions and gain support for a hideously costly war.

One connection between Iraq and Sept. 11 that people like Morris seem to have forgotten … Osama bin Laden’s rage against the U.S. grew when American forces used bases in Saudi Arabia during the 1991 Gulf War. American military presence in the Middle East has been a principal motivation for terrorism. Iraq did not actively harbor al-Qaida terrorists until after the U.S. attacked Baghdad this year. It is now clear that the war on Iraq has produced more terrorism, not less. It may even have forged an actual alliance between Osama and Saddam, which was once pure fiction.

John W. Hoopes,

Lawrence