Bush policy changes frightening

To the editor:

If you listen closely to what George Bush says, you should be frightened. First, he changed U.S. military policy from a focus on defense to one allowing pre-emptive strikes against potential enemies. Now, he has turned it into a policy that allows the U.S. to attack a foreign country if maybe at some stage in the future it could develop weapons that pose a threat to the U.S. Is there any country on the planet for which this could not be claimed?

Bush and Cheney justified the war by telling us Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, was linked to 9-11, and cooperated with Al Qaeda. Our own intelligence warned them of these errors, but they listened to the lies of Iraqi exile Ahmed Chalabi who wanted Iraq for himself. Now, for the umpteenth time, we have a U.S. intelligence report telling us that these claims are totally untrue. We even learn that Hussein not only had no weapons of mass destruction but also was actually weaker than he was after the Gulf War of 1990. Instead of acknowledging a blunder that has caused tens of thousands of deaths ö including nearly 1,100 Americans, they insist that removing Saddam Hussein from power justified the invasion and the deaths. With this president's propensity for war, no foreign nation will feel secure. Meanwhile, our own brave troops are constantly in jeopardy of being sent to fight an unjustifiable war.

JOAN SINGER, Cape Girardeau county