Pentagon's plan for attack likely to spur retaliation

To the editor:

The Pentagon's shock-and-awe Iraq war plan is set to begin with a bombardment of 3,000 U.S. missiles delivered over 48 hours, 10 times the number of bombs dropped during the first two days of the Persian Gulf War in 1991. Innocent civilians will be indiscriminately massacred by the tens of thousands to create a terror so great that there will be no one left with the will to resist.

Military planners state that the intent is to create the same effect as a nuclear weapon would have. It will be seen as disingenuous to unleash mass destruction to prevent the creation of weapons of mass destruction. Our brutal act will be seized upon by al-Qaida and other militant organizations as evidence that the United States is the Great Satan that must be destroyed.

It is inconceivable to imagine that there will not be attempts at retaliation through terrorist acts. Homeland security is not significantly better than it was two years ago. The terrorists will be successful in exacting their revenge. This will not be an antiseptic war with no risks to us. We will take casualties on our own soil.

Though the administration is justifying a preventive war by claiming it will create a safer and more peaceful world, attacking Iraq now is a foolhardy venture that virtually ensures that horrific events like Sept. 11, 2001, will become commonplace.

PAUL ZMOLEK

Cape Girardeau