Posted 12:38 PM by Floyd

Brilliance in the the San Jose Mercury News letters page, 10/27 edition -- A for Honesty department:

Diplomacy is a better option

ROBERT Ligeti (Letters, Oct. 19) says, ``The only thing that the Arab world understands is might, power and fury. Any attempts to appease, talk or negotiate will fail.'' This is an extreme over-generalization, and one that is self-fulfilling if the United States shares that attitude.

Attempts to appease, talk or negotiate are always preferable to striking blows, especially pre-emptive attacks. Ligeti follows President Bush's lead and tells us that Saddam Hussein is linked with Al-Qaida. But saying it is so many times does not make it so. Our own CIA tells us that Iraq is not linked with the terrorists. Iraq is responsible for supporting terror in Israel, that is true, but Saddam was not involved in 9/11.

The deaths of thousands of Iraqis is not trivial. This campaign to unseat Saddam has more to do with controlling oil than any immediate threat (unless you believe that not controlling oil is a threat to the United States.).

Ted Tripp
Santa Cruz

(emphasis mine)

I'm sure that it was only available space that prevented Tripp from listing the many successes of appeasement throughout history.