Readers Write (Jan. 15): Marines, Iran, Sen. Klobuchar, courtroom safety, Jason Lewis, Vikings stadium

Those people who are crying foul over the video of four U.S. Marines urinating on the corpses of three dead Taliban fighters need to chill ("U.S. vows inquiry of 'deplorable' video," Jan. 13).

War is neither nice nor glorious. It's a kind of hell unimaginable to people who have never experienced it.

The Taliban and their supporters have no problem planting bombs in public markets, beheading soldiers and civilians, or publicly celebrating the atrocities they've committed.

If you kill someone who has just tried to kill you, you probably won't be in the mood to treat the corpse with tender loving care.

In a perfect world, the soldiers should have shown restraint or at least turned the camera off.

But it's not a perfect world, especially in a war zone. The U.S. government sent soldiers there to do a job.

If anyone objects to how they do that job or cope with the aftermath, either trade places with them or bring them home.

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Thank you for Robert Kelley's commentary on Iran ("Let's not go to war with Iran on false pretenses," Jan. 12). He points out how disinformation has been funneled through media and other sources.

He likens the situation to the way in which fears of "weapons of mass destruction" were used to justify the Iraq war and to take over the oil fields there. (Remember when the Iraq war was going to "pay for itself"?)

In the current situation, we need to ask who may be manipulating us. We shouldn't allow ourselves to be tricked again.

DAVE HAJICEK, MINNETONKA

Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul is correct about U.S. foreign policy and Iran. Our sanctions against Iran are tantamount to an act of war. Most Americans are aware that escalating sanctions have been a route to war in numerous cases: Libya, Iraq, Serbia, etc.

We also know that the justifications for sanctions were based on lies and half-truths. I disagree with Paul on nearly everything, but applaud his courage to question our foreign policy.

No other major GOP candidate -- or Democrats for that matter -- have been willing to do so. Americans should heed Paul's warning about our dangerous approach to Iran unless we want to waste more lives and dollars on yet another war.

WAYNE NEALIS, MINNEAPOLIS

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When a business, say an entertainment provider, finds its revenue diminishing because its product is acquired illegally, it may lay off people or not hire new people. The laid-off and not-hired may go hungry or find themselves homeless.

If someone protects the entertainment provider's product, revenue goes up and people keep their jobs or become new hires. Along with that, they're able to buy food and find places to live.

ELAINE FRANKOWSKI, MINNEAPOLIS

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The attack on Klobuchar was unreasonable. The letter writer assumed that she expends no effort on issues such as hunger, poverty and homelessness. He also implied that she spends all her time on Internet issues and calls that "utterly, utterly shameful."

JOHN F. HETTERICK, PLYMOUTH

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Judge Lloyd Zimmerman decries a lack of safety in the courtroom ("Citing weapon risks, judge says no to three courtrooms," Jan. 5).

If judges in this state were as concerned about the safety of law-abiding citizens, they would incarcerate the people who are dangerous more often and for longer periods of time. I don't get to put metal detectors on the streets of my neighborhood.

I don't get to have county sheriffs standing guard when I go to work. This judge should buck up like the rest of us or do more to put away criminals.

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In defining Ron Paul, Lewis would like us to believe that his foreign-policy perspective of noninterventionism has long been a GOP tradition ("How to define Ron Paul? As a leader," Jan. 8). Huh?

May I remind you about George W. Bush, a Republican president, who intervened in Iraq? How about Ronald Reagan's Iran-contra and Star Wars initiatives? Or Richard Nixon's secret bombing of Cambodia?

I think I've made my point.

MARK HODAPP, BELLE PLAINE, MINN.

It's been said that a good leader is a good follower. All of the stadium proposals involve citizens shelling out tax money in one way or another.

Minneapolis must think that taxpayers are ignorant. City leaders propose a solution to the stadium issue "with no new taxes."

But since they propose using existing tax dollars, this is a simple shift of numbers. When it comes time to do the budget, they'll have holes left by stadium funding. Then there will be new taxes.

That's why this whole issue should be put to the taxpayers.

LOUIS HOHLFELD, MINNEAPOLIS

Are the Minnesota Vikings more important than the rest of Minnesota?

They're demanding that Minnesotans borrow more for a stadium than the state often borrows to meet the rest of its public infrastructure needs.

It's a ludicrous proposition. Those dollars could be used to meet scores of other infrastructure needs -- community centers, libraries, affordable housing, etc. Let's get our priorities straight.