PUBLIC FORUM : READERS HAVE MIXED VIEWS ON IRAQ CRISIS.

Iraq has never attacked the United States. Iraq's war with Kuwait was not our fight and would never have affected the flow of oil to our country as long as Iraq needs food and medicine.

Iraq has a right, as does every nation including the United States, to develop weapons of mass destruction to keep bullies away from its borders, and no nation should be subject to the humiliation of having its territory searched by outsiders. Imagine U.N. inspectors searching our White House.

I say scrap all disarmament pacts so my country can reclaim its sovereign rights to develop the most horrific weaponry known to man to keep all bullies from my shores - remember Pearl Harbor.

So let's make our voices known to Washington, that we will not be sending our troops to enforce this silly agreement. Instead, we will support any and all efforts to shore up our own defenses.

- Alice La Brie

Los Angeles 

President Clinton is calling up the full might of the U.S. military hammer to swat the fly. But aren't there a few problems?

The purpose is to gain entry for the U.N. inspectors to the ``palaces.'' The real solution here is to demand entry. If refused, give a one-hour warning - enough time for the people to get out - that the site will be destroyed then send the cruise missiles or bombers to do the job. Go on to the next ``palace'' and repeat.

Also, one must question the wisdom of advising Saddam Hussein, as Clinton and his weaklings have done, that he will not be targeted by the war - just as was done in the Persian Gulf War.

The real reason, of course, why Clinton and Congress won't go for this is that they fear that Saddam may send some of his spies and get them. Does one really think that he won't in any event?

It's remarkable how our leadership is able to talk about their guts and the blood of privates and children.

- Gerhard W. Orthuber

Oxnard

Re ``Answers needed, not arms'' by Joan Beck, Opinions, Feb. 12:

It seems to me that the basis of her complaint is the appearance of disregard for innocent civilian lives.

Saddam Hussein has shown through his actions over the years that he has no regard for human life save his own. Witness the last Iraq war and his hasty retreat to underground bunkers and deployment of civilians at military posts.

This is clearly a person who, for the safety of the world, must be stopped. This is reason enough to eliminate him.

- Steve Lennard

Canoga Park

My own solution to this mess would be the following: As a last item, remove all blockades and restrictions and pull out of the area to several convenient striking distances.

At the same time, inform the Iraqi population with a news blitz that shall be assumed Iraq perpetrated international war if there is one instance of chemical or biological warfare of any size from any source against any country. If this atrocity occurs, Iraq then shall cease to exist.

- Jack Welch 

Canoga Park

Larry Garney's letter of Feb. 15, ``U.S. must not tolerate Iraq's shell game,'' responding to my letter, ``Unilateral action against Iraq `suicidal,' '' was right on target.

Saddam is a bad guy and must be stopped, but are the Clinton administration and the American people willing to make the commitment necessary to bring him down?

Or will they fold when reports of innocent Iraqi civilian deaths occupy the headlines of the world's media or when body bags start returning to the United States? War is hell. Can we take it? Does anyone remember Vietnam?

- H. L. Bradbury

Granada Hills

Editorial rebuttal 

Friends of the Los Angeles River takes strong exception to the Feb. 5 editorial of the Daily News (``Storm warning; it's time to cut red tape that can delay maintenance of flood control channels'') in support of the exemption of the Los Angeles River and all other ``flood control channels'' from the Clean Water Act.

We are shocked that you would praise Congressman ``Buck'' McKeon's ill-conceived legislation - it is a dangerous, knee-jerk reaction that puts habitat and people at risk.

You are correct that flood control and maintenance are not one-time activities. That is why FLAR for years has been calling for modern flood-control techniques to be implemented that offer protection from storms as well as environmental protection.

Unfortunately those in charge of flood control in Los Angeles, primarily the L.A. County Department of Public Works, are stuck in a mind-set that pits the environment against flood control needs and aims to protect property by entombing it in concrete. You are wrong to encourage such backward policies in the form of McKeon's bill.

You are correct the ``bureaucrats'' were at odds with ``common sense,'' but you missed the target when you blame federal agencies for upholding the Clean Water Act. It is our very own Department of Public Works - a bureaucracy if ever there was one - that failed to provide basic documentation and simple justification for their work requests.

The ``shakedown'' of local taxpayers comes not from the Clean Water Act and calls for habitat protection. It comes from our very own Department of Public Works, which wants to continue to run its bulldozers over the last 5 percent of river habitat in the county without having to even give reason.

Now the shakedown takes shape in the form of McKeon's bill, but it has much wider implications. It would exempt ``maintenance and repair'' not only of the Los Angeles River, but any other stream, creek or river that fits the bill's vague description: ``partially vegetated flood control channels that are components of flood control projects.''

You are right that ``it is important to protect wildlife habitats, and that can be achieved with good planning.'' Until our local bureaucrats are willing to plan well, however, we cannot allow continued, indiscriminate environmental destruction; that's what McKeon's bill would allow.

- Martin Schlageter

Director

Friends of the Los Angeles River

HMOs as businesses

I hope anyone interested in his or her health read your article concerning Foundation Health System on Feb. 12.

Quoting FHS President Jay Geller: ``We've run a business for enrollees rather than profit; we're going to change that.''

Heaven forbid that they should try to satisfy their customers, or are enrollees not the real customers?

Make no mistake about it - the focus of HMOs is not on keeping people healthy, as many of them try to insist. I also find it interesting that this quote came from a health-care services conference. It makes me wonder what other changes the HMOs have in store for us.

- Douglas Neville

Chatsworth

Valley needs a name

Valley secession must be dealt with in a much more cohesive manner than the hit-or-miss direction we have heard to date.

I would like to start by agreeing on a name for the new city. In the past I have favored such trite appellations as ``Valley City,'' etc., but let's face it - everybody in the country is envious of our position as the ``show biz'' capital of the world, and rightly so. So why not claim ``Showbiz, Calif.'' as our new name before somebody else thinks of it?

- Red Blanchard

Sherman Oaks

`This is ridiculous'

My latest water and power bill states that we eliminated more water into the sewer than we received.

We must have been borrowing from the neighbors. We bought 4,100 cubic feet of water for $68.71, but we are charged for disposing of 4,900 for $110.74.

Will someone please explain how this is possible? It is general knowledge that the city only guesses at sewerage usage, and generally is wrong, but this is ridiculous.

How long are we citizens to put up with this nonsense?

- Larry Zimmerman

Woodland Hills

Smoking and bars

I chuckled when I read Marte Brengle's letter to the editor today. She chastised smokers who stopped frequenting certain bars due to the no-smoking policy required by law. Brengle said, ``It won't kill you to step outside once in a while to smoke.'' Chances are that it just might.

- Ken Sobel

Encino

McClintock praised

It's funny how when Democrats stick to their guns, they are praised for their vision and high principles, however screwy, expensive and downright damaging their proposals may be.

When a conservative like Tom McClintock, R-Granada Hills, maintains his ideological consistency, he's faulted as rigid and uncompromising - as if that were necessarily a bad thing (``McClintock relishes role as lone legislator,'' Daily News, Feb. 9).

Actually, it would be closer to the truth to say that he went to Sacramento equipped with a spine instead of a moistened finger in the wind.

I just wish we could clone him. It would be nice to have more people interested in good government and telling it straight, people intent on governing through heartfelt principle.

- Pat Parker

Los Angeles

Honoring Bob Hope

Congratulations to Bob Hope on receiving a knighthood from the queen of England.

To top all his achievements, it would be wonderful and much appreciated if Hope would donate much of the land he owns in the Santa Monica Mountains to the people of California. The park established could be called Bob Hope State Park. Our children's children and their children would remember him forever.

- Melba A. Simms

Woodland Hills