Los Angeles Times, Sept. 8

Six U.S. soldiers were killed, two Italian aid workers were kidnapped and warplanes bombed a Sunni enclave in Falluja, a city mostly off-limits to coalition troops. It was just another day in the war Tuesday, except for the numbers. By this morning, Iraq time, the Associated Press count of casualties stated that 1,000 U.S. troops had been killed in Iraq, aside from more than 100 other coalition soldiers and thousands of Iraqi noncombatants. And many thousands more have been wounded.

It is an obvious point at which to ask: To what end are U.S. personnel continuing to die? What is it that commanders should tell their troops as they head into lethal streets?

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Tuesday that violence was increasing because insurgents viewed peaceful balloting, set for January, and a democratic constitution as enemies. That conclusion is debatable, perhaps even a smoke screen. What’s not in doubt is insurgents’ view of U.S. troops as the enemy. It’s a belief that unites adherents of the Sunni brand of Islam, who have forced coalition troops out of much or all of the cities of Falluja, Ramadi and Samarra, and the Shiite Muslims who fought the Americans in the sacred city of Najaf. …

The U.S. will not win a war of attrition. Such wars do not favor occupying armies. Enclaves off-limits to soldiers give insurgents staging areas. …

Invading nations have an obligation to try to repair the damage they cause, but armies also need a clearly defined mission. How much are U.S. troops supposed to rebuild? Are they still meant to install democracy? Or will the U.S. settle for any kind of political stability, even if repressive clerics rule the country? …

Soldiers and Marines deserve to know, as they head out to face snipers and roadside bombs, what they’re meant to accomplish for that price.

Warning signs unheeded


Times Union, Albany, N.Y., Sept. 8

As President Clinton recovers from coronary bypass surgery, we join with millions of Americans who wish him a full and speedy return to good health. But we also wonder, along with many others, how he could have come so close to a severe, even fatal, heart attack as his doctors say he did without someone raising a warning flag long ago.

Mr. Clinton always seemed to be in good physical shape, both while in the White House and later in private life. Despite his junk-food diet and cigars, he jogged regularly, and his energy seemed inexhaustible. He exuded youthful robustness that belied his 58 years, and in recent months he appeared in better shape than ever after losing weight on the South Beach diet.

So how is it that, when Mr. Clinton checked into New York-Presbyterian Hospital in Manhattan, several of his arteries were 90 percent clogged with plaque as doctors are now saying? Given his history of thorough medical checkups, especially during his years in the White House, why didn’t someone notice the warning signs long before last week?

If there is a common thread that runs through all of this, it’s that of cavalier attitudes on the part of a patient who too often brushed aside the potential dangers of his diet and family medical history, and of doctors who should have looked more closely at those dangers as well.

Standing with Russia


Pioneer, New Delhi, India, Sept. 6

The bloody outcome of the hostage crisis in Beslan, North Ossetia, has united not only Russia but the entire free world in grief. … The horrific tragedy should leave no doubts – even among “human rights” do-gooders – about the savage nature of Chechnya’s so-called “war of independence.”

Its wagers, like their atavistic kin elsewhere, proved the enemies of civilization the day they made bloodletting a rite of passage toward perverted ends. … When children are not merely caught in crossfires, when they are coldly and consciously made to go as lambs to slaughter, it is an outrage against humanity. … In the past few years, Russia has suffered as much as India in terms of loss of life owing to terrorist depredations.

… Chechen “separatism” has a Kashmiri cousin. Both secessionist “movements” stand hijacked by foreign elements. The latter have been spreading their tentacles via cooption of localized strife, in depraved pursuit of “world domination” through regional destabilization. Nine ultras liquidated in Beslan were West Asian … .

… Russians seem to have a false sense of security about the remoteness of terror, seen as afflicting Chechnya alone. The Moscow theatre strike in 2002 should have put paid to this illusion. Beslan itself followed the downing of two airliners and a suicide blast in Moscow. Though President Vladimir Putin’s iron will to crush insurgency has never been doubted, Russia’s anti-terror campaign appears reactive rather than proactive, hitting out only after the tragic event. … It demands a sense of urgency, flowing from popular mobilization and preparedness.

… Russia must have the wherewithal to anticipate sneak attacks, and could learn from India in this regard. Finally, the world must stand by it as solidly as for post-Sept. 11 America. …