To secure safety, turn Iraq control over to the U.N.

To the editor:

The Iraq invasion has supposedly made us safer. Increasing numbers in the larger Arab world now view us as colonizers, and many Iraqis are hostile. They feel angry and threatened as never before. Their animosity has been stoked by our illegal, unprovoked attack, our flimsy justifications of self-defense, our leader's feigned concern for the Iraqis, our ignoring the Palestinian issue, and now by our insistence on controlling the rebuilding of Iraq. I have no doubt that this war -- in reality fought for oil and power -- will create new terrorists. It has made us less safe, not more.

The underlying proposition that terrorism can be countered with massive military action must be questioned. What good does it do to pursue weapons of mass destruction (and, by the way, where are they?) when that action increases lethal animosity toward us? The World Trade Center was brought down by men with box cutters, not biological warheads. There are a thousand ways to create terror, and now there are many thousands more people ready to do it. There are also thousands of our children now in Iraq who may be easy targets. It's one of the biggest messes we've ever been in.

To counter the current accusation of colonialism and thereby secure more safety, I endorse turning Iraq over to United Nations control. It may cost oil and reconstruction contracts, but it will save lives. It's high time we begin asking which is more important.

ROBERT POLACK JR.

Cape Girardeau