Can Peace Movement Play in Peoria?

Although I also am opposed to a prospective war with Iraq, Ellen Carol DuBois’ Jan. 14 letter shows some regrettable naivete regarding the motives of some of the protesters. She states that the bands of anarchists who often show up at such events are merely “young people who are running against the grain of their complacent society to care about the rest of the world and the role we play in it.”

The Marxists-Leninists, the violent wing of the anarchist movement and the legions of the politically correct, in fact, do not subscribe to idealistic goals. Their overarching goal has always been to transform the U.S. into a totalitarian society where no nonleftist dissent is permitted. Why should an antiwar demonstration welcome their presence any more than a conservative demonstration should welcome klansmen, Nazis or militia members? Kooks like them subvert any chance that a peace movement will successfully “play in Peoria.”

Chris Osborne

El Segundo

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The women who make up part of the nation’s military were probably too busy defending our freedom to take the day off, take their clothes off and form the word “peace” on the beaches of Marin County (“A Naked Plea for Peace Gets Legs as Protest Draws Imitators,” Jan. 14). I am certain that had they not been so busy, they would have added context, meaning and perspective to the event by spelling out the additional words “through strength.”

William J. Becker Jr.

Los Angeles

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Thank you so much for reporting on the big peace rally in a fairly balanced way (“Thousands Rally Against War in Iraq, Push Peace,” Jan. 12). It reflected that people from all walks of life are realizing that the Bush administration is leading the world down the wrong path and are standing up against that direction and saying “no” to more war.

Elke Heitmeyer

Sherman Oaks