LETTER TO EDITOR: Play the national security card

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Sen. John McCain's unwillingness to risk playing the national security card, his only remaining winning suit, has enabled Sen. Barack Obama to greatly minimize the doubts many voters harbored earlier about his dangerously naïve mentality concerning our mortal enemies.

By stating in the first debate that he was "optimistic" Iran could be pressured to abandon its nuclear weapons development, Mr. McCain left viewers with little reason to worry about what should be the transcending issue of the election.

The reality is that with or without preconditions, negotiations with Iran are virtually certain to fail, leaving us no sane option other than to destroy its nuclear facilities.

Failing to do so would be an open invitation to a nuclear doomsday, not only for Israel, but for us as well. Because of his fear of confronting voters with this stark but inescapable reality, Mr. McCain has removed from the debate the all-important, mind-changing issue of what to do about Iran's nuclear quest. As a consequence, he has forgone his best opportunity to show that as president, Mr. Obama would be America's No. 1 national security risk.

Once again on Iraq, Mr. McCain has refused to assert that Mr. Obama's reckless and irresponsible, premature withdrawal plan would virtually guarantee an Iranian-backed radical Islamic takeover of hundreds of billions in future oil revenues.

Thus, Mr. McCain has foolishly denied himself the most compelling argument for staying the course in Iraq. Allowing the radicals to control these oil revenues would hugely compound our already monumental problems in trying to win the war on terror while also vastly increasing its cost to us in both blood and treasure, not to mention the terrible added risk this would pose to our survival.

Mr. McCain's uncharacteristic lack of forthrightness and courage on these critical issues has all but erased the crucial differences between him and Mr. Obama and has given him a comfort level with voters on national security that almost totally overcomes his only major remaining vulnerability.

Indeed, Mr. McCain has gone from playing it safe to playing it dumb. How tragic when our country's very survival could be at stake. If we don't get it right on national security, nothing else will matter.

ROGER CHAPIN

San Diego