Paul Nastari (Letters, Oct 20th 2002) is sick and tired of reading that a potential war with Iraq will result in the killing innocent Iraqi civilians, on the grounds that it dishonors the victims of September 11th. In doing so, he and others like him, including President Bush, lift a pen from one sad and painful dot (9/11) to another sad and painful dot (our imminent war with Iraq) without making a connection. Despite President Bush’s many assertions, no convincing evidence has been brought to light concerning Iraqi complicity in the events of September 11th. The case for or against war with Iraq must be made on its own merits, not on the dubious claim of honor to be redeemed. The many deaths of September 11th were tragic; the killing of others, innocents as well as combatants, will not bring them back, and in fact is likely to create the conditions and animosity that breed fanaticism and terrorism, and so the cycle repeats.

Kurt