I have just seen a press conference by President Clinton, which, though it did not surprise me, distressd me greatly. In it he said that if Iraq does not comply with United Nations rules tomorrow, it will be bombed.

Clearly this is an act of war. And never in the history of the human race has war led to peace.

Let us look at this on a smaller scale. When a father beats his son for a small offense and then says, “Now, if you do that again, or if I even think you might do that again, this is what you’ll get,” rarely does that stop the bad behavior or the son. In fact, usually the son goes out and does something worse. If the son is beaten for drinking, next time he will drink and wreck the car.

Similarly, we have bombed Iraq before, starting in 1991, at about this same time of year. With each bombing Iraq gets sneakier and crueler to her own people and surrounding nations.

Bombing does not work. I urge readers to pray for the leaders of both countries and to let them know you disapprove of the way it is going, that is toward war. Deborah L. Cox Bangor