To the editor:

Over the course of three years, the Bush administration has used hundreds of thousands of troops and hundreds of billions of dollars for the invasion of Iraq. And, it took very little time to decide to do that.

Yet, the same administration now tells the country that it does not have the resources or capacity to coordinate a nationwide response to a bird flu pandemic, which could kill, according to them, up to two million Americans.

I wonder how much easier it would have been if we had never invaded Iraq. Maybe we just won’t care what George W. Bush has done with our resources in Iraq if such a pandemic occurs. Perhaps we’ll all be so thankful for the lack of manpower and funds, as chaos envelopes us, for the “liberation” of Iraq from a tyrant we funded throughout the 1980s as he killed Iranians and Iraqi Kurds, crimes for which we are now trying him.

Perhaps we’ll re-elect another super patriot who promises us he knows “for a fact” that the wars we fight are just, even without evidence to back him up.

Or maybe, just maybe, those Americans who refuse to think critically before supporting such leaders, will eventually see the light and ask tough questions, and investigate claims before deciding to push for wars with little merit. Maybe then we’ll use our democratic rights wisely and hold leaders responsible for protecting us, a charge they so far have not lived up to.

Chris White,

Lawrence