Letters to the editor

For the record

Along with many of my colleagues, military generals and other experts, I encouraged the White House to consider sending more troops to Iraq (“Advocates of troop surge about-face in Congress,” Page 1, yesterday). But that was in 2004 and 2005, during a much earlier phase of the war. And it involved a much larger magnitude of order.

As we now know — thanks to their own admission — the Bush administration botched the invasion of Iraq and shortchanged our troops on the front end. Today, in February of 2007, in the middle of a full-blown civil war, another 20,000 more troops is insufficient to turn the tide — and certainly is about two years too late. Your story would have been accurate if you noted how skeptics in Congress encouraged the president to send more troops many years ago — and he ignored everyone.

SEN. JOHN KERRY

Washington

The show of (non)force on the border

Those of us who have had experience in law enforcement have an understanding of the meaning of the term “posse comitatus.” We understand why our military is proscribed from taking action against citizens, but the Arizona National Guard leaving its post after spotting armed men approaching is a different situation; in this case, the guard would have been involved in an action against criminals who were not American citizens (“Border retreat called right move,” Nation, Tuesday).

No matter how you feel about that particular mission or how it is interpreted, this is evident: American military personnel were forced to retreat on our own soil. Maj. Gen. David P. Rataczak can call it what he may, but “relocating” troops in the face of an armed adversary is a retreat in anyone’s language. This is disgusting and embarrassing to our military, and I would bet people are laughing about those guardsmen in Mexico.

As for the guards not taking action, they reflect the true wishes of President Bush: He doesn’t want any action taken against criminal Mexican aliens; the National Guard is there strictly for show, nothing else.

MAJ. ROBERT L. DI STEFANO

Baltimore Police Department (retired)

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