Troop deaths provoke civilians’ outrage

Re “14 Marines Are Killed in Iraq Blast,” Aug. 4

Over the last year, this has been an increasing occurrence as the insurgents get more sophisticated in their methods. This report indicated that all 14 Marines were killed by a roadside bomb that blew up the vehicle in which they were riding.

My problem with this issue is who or what is planning troop movements in such an environment? When will some change in tactics be affected to eliminate or minimize these events? For example, why are the troops packed into one vehicle that any moron can target? Private protection agencies use multiple vehicles to make it more difficult to pinpoint the target.

If our military planners would move troops in high-danger zones using a multiple-vehicle approach, with appropriate distance maintained between the carriers, would this not make it very difficult to target so many at one time?

Or is it that the senior commanders are incapable of thinking outside the box?

DOUG GILMOUR

Fullerton

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I would believe those with “We support our troops” signs in the windows more if they hadn’t voted to keep their young men and women in Iraq by reelecting George Bush.

Now, when I look at the electoral map from the 2004 election and see Ohio in red, all I can think about is the color of blood.

BARBARA DAVILMAN

Burbank

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The president goes on a 30-day vacation while the nation is at war, and the moral compass of the nation is fixated on “intelligent design” and embryonic stem cells. Meanwhile, in Iraq, 21 Marines die in a three-day period in a war with seemingly no end in sight. The country and our leaders brush aside the recent Marine deaths and those of more than 1,800 other Americans with the proclamation that they were true heroes.

Where is our moral outrage over this illegal and ill-conceived war that was justified with a pack of half-truths and lies? How many more of our troops and countless innocent Iraqis will die during the time that Bush basks in the Texas sun?

BOB CONSTANTINE

Placentia