Drone strikes and Pakistan; the White House on bioweapons; development in Playa Vista

I'll tell you very clearly: It will guarantee a rupture between my government and myself and cost the president what little shred of faith I still have in him.

The Times reports, in sterile, coldblooded terms, that our military has carried out 48 attacks by unmanned Predator and Reaper aircraft this year alone. Yet 10 is the number of supposedly high-level Taliban leaders you estimate we've killed.

Were the remaining targets empty buildings? Or have we already taken hundreds, perhaps thousands, of lives through our cowardly actions?

Jon Williams
Goleta

International law recognizes the use of aerial attacks only for hardened military targets. The use of the drones to kill people is extrajudicial execution, which is banned by international law.

Michael Haas
Los Angeles

Biological weapons hazards

Re “Defenseless on bioweapons,” Editorial, Dec. 12

Characterizing the Obama administration's decision to not support international monitoring of the Biological Weapons Convention as "ducking the issue" manifests a serious misunderstanding of how to reduce biological weapons threats.

Bioweapons are as serious a danger as nuclear weapons. They can be made anywhere and moved everywhere, and could be used repeatedly to cause widespread terror and death. A contagious agent would spread to the United States from wherever it's released.

Last week, the administration set forth a detailed global strategy for countering biothreats that focuses on strengthening global public health, overseeing bioscience advances and strengthening law enforcement.

Many experts agree with the administration that installing a biological weapons monitoring system won't work. The techniques for controlling nuclear weapons do not apply to bioweapons. For crucial international security policies, one size does not fit all.

Biological weapons are a real threat that demands a set of realistically effective policies. After eight years of dithering in this arena, the United States is at long last advocating progress.

Barry Kellman
Wilmette, Ill.
The writer is president of the International Security and Biopolicy Institute.

No fan of Bolivia's leader

Re “Bolivia banks on Morales,” Editorial, Dec. 9

I read this editorial with interest because I recently lived in Bolivia. The Times is misguided in depicting Evo Morales as an enlightened leader whose policies led to his reelection.

Morales shamelessly used race as a wedge issue. Bolivia's indigenous peoples make up two-thirds of the nation. He appealed to them by constantly casting Bolivians of European and mestizo descent as oppressors and non-Bolivians.

Morales announced his intention to accelerate his brand of socialism -- not "change" as the editorial puts it. His reliance on the increase in coca production to stabilize the economy and his threat to imprison his main opponent, Manfred Reyes Villa, are indicative of his agenda.

I originally supported Morales because I thought he would unite the nation like Nelson Mandela did South Africa. Instead, he has polarized it along class and race lines like Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe. My fear is that Bolivia will become like Zimbabwe -- totalitarian, economically bankrupt and engulfed by racial hatred.

J. Canelas
Burbank

Doubts about Lieberman

Re “Lieberman criticizes health deal,” Dec. 14

The insurance companies are certainly getting their money's worth with Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman.

If he's an Independent, and the Democrats are really in the majority, I need a new dictionary.

Kurt Page
Laguna Niguel

Too bad, grads!

Re “Jobs scarce for new grads,” Dec. 14

Gee whiz, when a company contemplates a mountain of healthcare costs, onerous regulation and significant tax increases -- particularly small business, the creator of the majority of jobs over the last two decades -- it's not too difficult to see why unemployment will remain punishingly high for young grads.

Serves 'em right. These young (unproductive) geniuses voted in overwhelming numbers for President Obama and his coattail socialists in Congress.

You reap what you sow.

Kip Dellinger
Los Angeles

Happy holidays at Goldman Sachs

Re “Goldman scraps cash bonuses for top execs,” Dec. 11

It's pretty fascinating that in this time of economic downturn for millions of Americans, when people are out of work and small businesses can't get credit and the holiday season looks bleak, Goldman Sachs posts earnings of $8.5 billion in the first nine months of 2009. This turns out to be enough, according to The Times, to hand out bonuses averaging more than $700,000 for each of the company's more than 31,000 employees.