Why does U.S. aid dictators like Mubarak?

The most disturbing news regarding the colossal Egyptian turmoil is the billions of U.S. dollars spent through the years in military aid to President Hosni Mubarak's authoritarian regime ["Upended," Opinion, Feb. 6].

If focusing on the roots of terrorism is a prime American aim, we must seriously reconsider the consequences of such a repeated policy of aiding a Ferdinand Marcos in the Philippines or, similarly, the shah of Iran in the 1970s, which led to the distressful 14-month anti-American hostage crisis and the defeat of President Jimmy Carter.

Do we learn from history?

Fred Barnett

Lake Grove