PUBLIC FORUM ANOTHER WAR, BATTLE.

Re ``Rumsfeld must go'' (Editorial, Dec. 27):

I read with dismay your recommendation that Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld must go. Then I thought of another Christmas battle, this one in 1944. The 101st Airborne was sent, with inadequate supplies of ammunition, food, water, medical supplies and winter clothing, to act as a speed bump before a massive and unexpected - i.e., an intelligence failure- German counterattack at Bastogne. The battle lasted six weeks; we had 500 killed per day. What we did not have were newspapers doing their best to hurt America's war effort.

We had no calls for Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower or the secretary of war to be fired or the president to be thrown out. We had no phony stories about unarmored vehicles. What we did have was Gen. Anthony McAuliffe's famous one word reply to a German demand for surrender: ``Nuts!''

- Richard Bussell

Santa Clarita

Biased and misinformed

Re ``Rumsfeld must go'' (Editorial, Dec. 27):

To most Americans, the answer is a resounding yes, Donald Rumsfeld has done a good job under tremendously difficult conditions. Your hindsight view of the conduct of the war is biased and misinformed. Naysayers like you are the biggest problem our troops have.

Thank God for Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney and George W. Bush. They seem to be able to see all this Beltway bawling for the sour grapes it is. Like Michael Moore's flick, it's fodder for those who shoot at Americans and slaughter innocents.

- John R. Tayloe

Valley Village

Disgusting distortion

Re ``They gave their lives for you'' (Dec. 26):

Your headline is the most offensive and the most disgusting distortion of the truth, an affront to all those sweet souls torn from their families, who, suffering their grief and sorrow, have to contend with the gross hypocrisy and sheer lunacy perpetrated by that imbecile in the White House. Your headline should be aimed at him, not your readers.

These young lives were cut short so George Bush could play dress-up and strut across the world stage under a banner that read ``Mission accomplished.'' The economy in ruins, those bloated corporate pals of our vice president scooping in the billions, the environment deteriorating and the Social Security system being raped - that's why our young soldiers are being killed.

- James A. Takacs

Encino

Check, not clone

Re ``"$50,000 for a copycat'' (Dec. 23):

I've been heard to say about my 12-year-old Catahoula hound, Toby, that I couldn't love him more if I'd given birth to him myself. Just thinking about his advancing years brings tears to my eyes.

What a wonderful tribute it would be to my love for him if I were to donate $50,000 to Pet Orphans, the Van Nuys organization that brought him into my life. How I wish we'd seen a photo of Julie holding a huge cardboard check instead of a kitten.

- Laura Barker

Shadow Hills

Urban renewal

Re ``Report: Public demands downtown iconic architecture'' (Dec. 22):

Urban renewal here should focus on recycling - not on disposal and destruction. For true urban renewal of this area, officials should emphasize activating and reusing the ground floors of the courthouse and County Administration Building with cafes, delis, produce stands, newsstands, bookstores and public art installations, so that people will use these activities to strengthen the urban fabric that they are trying to produce on Grand Avenue.

Utilize the entrance steps on the two county buildings to double as entry portals and casual places for pedestrians to sit and think. The public officials who sit on this committee should consider getting down and dirty and suggest adding a 1-to-9 work period to the traditional 9-to-5, not only to enliven these buildings in this Civic Center but also to provide flexibility and productivity in basic services.

- Jerard Wright

Los Angeles

A better way

For the past few months, seating benches have been installed along the west end of Devonshire, and I have yet to see just one person sit on one. Why is money being wasted on rock-hard benches 10 feet away from 50 mph traffic? There must be better ways to beautify our business district.

- Carl Arrechea

Chatsworth

Prisoner transfers

Re ``Mexico, U.S. ignore illegal immigration'' (Viewpoint, Dec. 26):

It is not surprising that Washington and Sacramento join in the hoax of hiding the cost of incarcerating some 14,000 illegal aliens per year that taxpayers must fund. Who of us knew there was to be a prisoner-transfer summit among participating countries to try to solve this staggeringly costly problem? Nor is it a surprise that those jokesters, the Mexican diplomats, could not afford a ticket to the event and did not feel obligated enough to call.

State Sen. Gloria Romero should be commended for trying, but the news sources, written and spoken, failed to inform the naive public for fear of blaming the victim.

- Barbara Mark

Valencia

Demographics changed

Re ``Sir George'' (Your Opinions, Dec. 27):

A ``horse named stupid''? In 1935, after receiving thousands of letters from elderly citizens stating they could not afford to live in retirement, President Franklin D. Roosevelt led the passing of Social Security as we know it today.

In 1935 there were approximately 120 people paying in for every one collecting, and the average time for collecting benefits was 11 months. In 2004, the ratio is 3-to-1, and the collecting average is more than 11 years. There have been 11 years in which Social Security - under the Federal Insurance Contributions Act or FICA - took in less than it paid out. Pull your John Kerry stickers off your bumper and start thinking with some logic.

- Curtis Cooper

Castaic

Time for action

Re ``War on Social Security'' (Their Opinions, Dec. 23):

I totally agree with Richard Cohen that George W. Bush has a charming tendency to make up his mind first and then seek evidence for his decision. He is responsible for thousands of deaths of young U.S. soldiers and thousands of injuries in the war against Iraq, not mentioning the deaths of uncounted innocent civilians in Iraq.

It is time for the people of the United States to join hands and take action so that George W. Bush does not do the same thing with Social Security and so he apologizes for his invasion of Iraq.

- Vin Chhabra

Canoga Park

Immoral, irrational

Re ``A just penalty'' (Your Opinions, Dec. 26):

Steve McCombs claims that capital punishment is ``moral, rational and logical,'' but it is none of these. We see with alarming frequency that men and women who have served several years, perhaps even 15 to 20 years, are released from prison after being proved innocent. In most if not all of these cases, those following the trial were every bit as convinced of the guilt of these innocent victims of imperfect justice as they are in cases where the condemned are actually guilty.

With the certainty of judicial error occurring with some frequency, how can capital punishment be anything other than immoral, irrational and illogical?

- David Holland

Northridge

Not designed for it

Re ``Hindsight geniuses'' (Your Opinions, Dec. 27):

The Humvee is a personnel carrier and light weapons platform designed to replace the jeep. The World War II jeep that I drove had zero armor. The Humvee can handle the .50-caliber machine gun and small rockets, and it can pull a half-ton trailer, but it was never designed to replace armored vehicles.

The ambushes in Iraq are very different from what happened in our previous wars, as we did not have the enemy operating behind our front lines except during the Battle of the Bulge and the Battle of the Ruhr Pocket. I drove a jeep in the Ruhr Pocket, and my only protection was a submachine gun in my lap. It is a massive job to put armor on all our supply trucks and Humvees. We need to understand that it takes time to put armor on vehicles not designed to be armored in the first place.

- Raiford L. Langford

Sherman Oaks