The Price of Patrolling Iraq's Skies

Regarding the editorial "Patrolling Iraqi Skies," Aug. 31: The editorial fails to consider how much these round-the-clock aircraft patrols are costing an America that is broke and has millions of citizens who are in need. Nor does the editorial discuss the fact that the United States Constitution prevents a president from calling up the troops on his own except in cases of attack or imminent attack.

Some of us are worried that this great nation is becoming just what the founders feared and sought to prevent through constitutional provisions: the personal arsenal and army of the president. Mary C. Decker, Houston

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