Letters: Mar. 7, 2005

(2 of 3)

CAROLYN SIEBER - Dayton, Ohio

KLEIN HIT THE NAIL RIGHT ON THE HEAD. I am a Republican, and though I believe in many of the positions the Democratic Party supports, I think it is out of touch with the majority of voters. For too long the party has held on to old issues. It needs to reform itself to survive in this new era. And Democrats need to see and accept achievement when it occurs. Many people where I live feel the same as I do. The Republicans are doers, and the Democrats are complainers. The Dems need to change if they want to have any sort of future.

ANDREW FLINN - Kenton, Ohio

HAS KLEIN BEEN HIJACKED BY REPUBLIcan interests? He has spent a great deal of energy excoriating Bush's policies on foreign and domestic fronts, but suddenly he seems to be overcome by a wave of recompense. Klein's take on the President's State of the Union speech as "striking" seems at odds with his critique of Bush's Inaugural Address, which alluded to "petulant idealism" [Jan. 31]. The Democrats' lack of optimism is owing at least in part to those specifics of foreign policy that Klein has criticized in his columns, namely Bush's arrogance abroad and crony capitalism at home as well as the faulty reasons for going to war and the lack of an exit strategy for Iraq.

JOHN SIMONDS - West Sand Lake, N.Y.

Physician-Assisted Abuse

"THE ABU GHRAIB SCANDAL YOU DON'T Know" described how the prison's medical system became an "instrument of abuse, by design and by neglect" [Feb. 14]. It is inexcusable that the U.S. did not provide adequate medical services for prisoners. The abuses and atrocities committed at Abu Ghraib must continue to be reported. U.S. citizens need to demand an accounting as well as restitution by our highest officials.

KAREN A. NETWAL - St. Paul, Minn.

IN PAST WARS, ENEMY SOLDIERS WOULD surrender readily to our forces because they knew we treated prisoners decently. At the end of World War II, for example, German troops would surrender to Americans to avoid falling into the hands of Russians, who might have imprisoned them in distant camps from which they might never return. Now the U.S.'s enemies will certainly think twice before surrendering, choosing instead to fight to the death while taking with them as many Americans as possible.

RICHARD HORNBY - Pasadena, Calif.

THE U.S. WENT TO IRAQ TO STOP THE abuse and humiliation Iraqis were receiving at the hands of Saddam Hussein. The U.S. doesn't condone prison atrocities and inhuman conditions. As an American, I want to apologize for the torture and maltreatment of Iraqi prisoners.

SHERRY LACEFIELD - Lake Villa, Ill.

An Underhyped Election?

IN "WHY IT DESERVES THE HYPE," COLUMnist Charles Krauthammer argued that the triumph of the Iraqi elections is not being heralded as it should be here in the U.S. or in Europe [Feb. 14]. Krauthammer wrote, "The U.S. may not be the world's most artful liberator. But it is hard to think of a more sincere one." Krauthammer and people who think like him just don't get it. Were the American people asked to liberate Iraq and support a fledgling democracy there at a cost in lives and dollars that may be unbearable? I thought we invaded to protect ourselves from weapons of mass destruction. We have a President who changes the script as he goes along.