To the editor:

The spectacle of our president’s unannounced mad dash to Baghdad should give everyone second, maybe third, thoughts about Iraq’s festering disaster.

Johnson and Nixon visited Vietnam as president. They spent weeks beforehand telling Americans and the world when, how, and why they were going. They warned their Vietnamese allies they were coming. They stayed a couple days. They ventured beyond the U.S. Embassy’s walls. They invited American and world media to witness their symbolic visits to a war zone.

One of their main purposes was to show themselves. That is politics as theater. Bad strategy, worse war, but Johnson and Nixon understood presidential theater. Bush’s trip, by contrast, showcased political chaos and strategic void.

Our president has so little respect for the Iraqi government we prop up, he didn’t tell its leaders he was coming to their country. He has so little confidence in Baghdad’s security, he didn’t leave the fortified Green Zone. He has so little guidance to offer our troops, he met only the handful who guard our embassy.

Bush’s visit will do no more to recover America’s lost strategic initiative than his 2003 carrier landing, “bring ’em on” boast, and Thanksgiving turkey photo-op. When he flew out of Iraq that night, 446 Americans had died in combat. By July 1, more than 2,500 will have paid the ultimate price for his immaturity.

Karl Brooks,

Lawrence