THE PRESIDENT'S CRISES

"If Iraq's close neighbors aren't that concerned about the threat of biological or chemical weapons, maybe we shouldn't be either."
SCOTT FIESTHUMEL
Utica, N.Y.

We have a President who is not free to focus fully upon complicated issues and govern this nation during a crisis like the one with Iraq [March 2]. He has been sacrificed by a judiciary bowing to political and prurient interest. America's hard-won heritage of freedom and privacy has been permanently excised, and there has been a rebirth of the Inquisition by an obviously partisan prosecutor.
KATHLEEN NELSON
Tucson, Ariz.

A simple solution to ensure Saddam Hussein's compliance with unfettered U.N. inspections: if he denies access to a suspicious site, bomb that spot.
WILLIAM KOSTER
Bedford, Mass.

Saddam poses no clear and present danger to the U.S. The situation is not the same as when Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990. If we continue our containment policy, Iraq will collapse, even though it may take 30 years, and we will not be the world's policeman or the Great Satan in the eyes of Muslims. Suppose Saddam destroys a lot of people with his weapons of mass destruction. Then the whole world will smash him. So let's leave Saddam to stew in his own juice, just making sure that he knows that using his weapons will result in certain annihilation. Keep the sanctions in place. They're hurting. There's lots we can do short of war to make Saddam impotent.
J. PAUL EVERETT
Shelton, Wash.

Considering the fortitude and patience the President has shown amid the antics of not only Saddam but also the tabloids, I am glad that it is Clinton dealing with Iraq and not the media. If the press had the responsibility, reporters might be trying to find out whom Saddam has slept with.
SAMANTHA DENNETT
Scarborough, Canada

ECHOES OF HISTORY

I remember British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain's return from meeting with Adolf Hitler in Munich in 1938. Chamberlain said there would be "peace for our time." And in 1939 Hitler invaded Poland and World War II began. Let us remember why we have arrived at this point with Iraq [March 2]. It is because Saddam and his clique have not kept their side of the bargain reached after the Gulf War. A signature on a piece of paper is meaningless. What matters is the character of the person signing it. History repeats itself. U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan seems as naive to me as Chamberlain. Annan came back from Baghdad with a worthless piece of paper.
PAUL MONTAGUE
Sydney

My deepest respect and heartiest congratulations to Annan for what he achieved on his visit to Baghdad. But the hardest work lies ahead. There are too many similarities between Saddam and Hitler. If Saddam keeps breaking his promises, he has to be stopped, once and for all. Footage of Chamberlain's statement after meeting with Hitler should be shown on TV so that viewers can see what happened. We need to make sure that people everywhere, including those in leadership positions in various countries, know what took place in 1938 and 1939. Saddam is as untrustworthy as Hitler. He has to be stopped.
ROLF MELLDE
Lysekil, Sweden

A NONMEETING OF MINDS

The students at the Ohio State University town meeting should be thoroughly ashamed of their actions [March 2]. High officers of government, like the Secretaries of State and Defense, deserve to be treated with respect. What happened at the meeting was not free speech; it was coarse brutality of the lowest type. The president of the university and a spokesperson for the students should apologize for this incident.
LEE D. MACKEY
Rutledge, Mo.

Did administration officials expect the students to sit around like good little children? Government officials wanted an open forum. They got it.
LORI ELLMANN, student
University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee
Milwaukee, Wis.

In Iraq the people do not have the freedom to demonstrate against the government and its policies. In Australia and the U.S. the penalty for disagreement with government policies is not detention, but a lot of press attention.
DARYL GUPPY
Katherine, Australia

I watched the Ohio Town Meeting live on television and saw it differently from the way you reported it. There were perhaps a dozen rude, nihilistic hecklers. Yet instead of focusing on audience support for Secretary Madeleine Albright and applause for her admonition that the rest of the audience wanted to hear what the Administration officials had to say, the American media widely broadcast the protests in 60-second sound bites. I live close to Saddam's borders, and he worries me very much. He is irrational, irresponsible and dangerous. That was Albright's message, and it was the truth.
DANA SAUR
Bucharest

THE SPECIAL PROSECUTOR'S ROLE

It is sad to see top politicians, lawyers and media people blame the function of a special prosecutor for the current presidential scandal [March 2]. The special prosecutor's role is to determine the truth, with no interference from any person, not even the President. Elected representatives, Bill Clinton and every other American ought to proclaim, "Regardless of the outcome, we have the best system in the world."
DON BRANDON
Sherwood Park, Canada

Perhaps if we ignored Clinton's dalliances and instead concentrated on crime, education and health--the important issues--we could all grow up.
AARON LUMLEY
Dartmouth, England

CURING THE BELGIAN CANCER

Your report on the release of a parliamentary commission's report about pedophile and judicial scandals in Belgium [March 2] was a resume of almost two decades of a country's paranoid-schizophrenic disorder. While our local leaders stand up against civil, social, political and economic criminality, the world community whispers, "What an evil place." I'm ashamed of what happens here but proud to be Belgian and content to live in Belgium. Still, Belgians not only want to see heads roll but also seek positive new laws. CARL NYS Brussels

Belgium should never have been constituted as it was in 1831, when it became a constitutional parliamentary monarchy. It was hard to find a King for this small piece of land. Designed to be utterly Francophone and presidential, it ended up divided into three parts that were different linguistically, culturally and politically. The scandals involving pedophile Marc Dutroux, the murder of Deputy Prime Minister Andre Cools and the Agusta-Dassault affair, in which high-level Socialist Party officials allegedly took kickbacks, prove that the Belgian government lacks the courage to act decisively as one nation in solving problems. This is a country programmed to destroy itself. Unless Belgium finds men and women possessing leadership, insight, honesty and honor, and bold new ideas, it should think of dissolving itself.
ERIK DE JAEGER
Ghent, Belgium

THE FATE OF ICE BABIES

Your story on the birth of babies from long-frozen embryos [March 2] may lead readers to think that in-vitro-fertilization clinics are less than forthcoming to parents about the fate of unused embryos. In IVF clinics, all of a patient's embryos are accounted for. The pressing issue surrounding frozen embryos is abandonment. IVF clinics often become the guardians of unclaimed frozen embryos because couples lose contact. Clinics must then decide whether to destroy the embryos or keep them frozen indefinitely. Without a specific, notarized directive, IVF clinics are loath to destroy these "orphan" embryos.
DAVID HILL, IVF Laboratory Director
Center for Reproductive Medicine
Century City Hospital Los Angeles

BEING AN OLYMPIC HOST

Barry Hillenbrand's commentary "Thanks a Million and Sayonara" [March 2] painted an excellent picture of what the world thought of the Winter Olympics at Nagano and of Japanese hospitality and culture. As Hillenbrand wrote, "Understatement was the order of the day." This message should be adopted by the next Olympic host cities, Sydney and Salt Lake City, Utah. Americans, no doubt, are a warm and caring people, but they are capable of commercializing just about anything. And that approach can backfire even with the best intentions. The Games should have priority.
SITA AVASARALA
Monte Carlo

LACK OF MARKET EFFICIENCY

The problems in some of the Southeast Asian markets [Feb. 9] stem from one crucial fact: some governments there do not understand the need for efficient markets, which require a large number of buyers and sellers, a large and well-regulated central marketplace and a free flow of information to all participants. But too often there is one market for "club" members and a separate one for others, often foreigners. Club members can trade in both markets, but others in only one market. Information is sometimes available only to club members or those in a privileged position. The International Monetary Fund has yet to resolve this problem in some countries it is lending money to. All merit belongs to those who are questioning the rationale of the IMF bailouts. U.S. taxpayers can ill afford to see their money used to support dynastic minorities in the Far East that want only to protect wealth often gained at the expense of the less fortunate.
GEORGE DENNIS
London