Letters: Sep. 12, 2005

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As your report "Inside Iran's Secret War for Iraq" made clear, the Iranians are attempting to gain influence in Iraq [Aug. 22]. I don't blame them. The U.S. saw fit to invade and occupy a country because of a nonexistent threat. The occupying forces have nothing (religion, language or culture) in common with the Iraqis. Iraq imposed a war on Iran that lasted eight years and killed more than 300,000 Iranians. The future of Iraq is not yet certain. So why shouldn't Iran be concerned about its troublesome neighbor? Anything else would be irresponsible and fail to ensure the security of Iran.

SHAHROKH SHAHROKHI San Diego

Dismantling the Settlements

Your report captured both sides of the controversy over the Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and provided details about what the settlers are going through [Aug. 22]. I am a supporter of Gaza disengagement and find it difficult to believe the settlers did not realize they were on borrowed time from the minute they began living on occupied land after the 1967 war. For a true peace, Israel and its settlers must realize that a Palestinian nation has to be created. The sad part is that Jews and Arabs had lived together in the region peacefully for centuries, but now it seems that the only way to achieve a lasting peace for the region is to separate their cultures. MARK MINTER Worcester, Mass.

Your article about Gaza portrayed a rosy image of Zionism. That picture, however, is painted with the blood and tears of hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees, people who were forcibly evicted from their homes by Zionist settlers. You should have had more balanced reporting.

WAQAR HAQUE Houston

Read other stories about Israeli-Palestinian relations and conflict in the Middle East in TIME's archives at timearchive.com

Music Without Labels

I found the views of Ta-Nehisi Paul Coates off base and offensive in his piece about his disenchantment with black music, "Black Guy, White Music" [Aug. 22]. To suggest that an entire genre of music has not grown and evolved just as its listeners have is simply uneducated. There is more to hip-hop than the mainstream media choose to embrace. There is a whole world of music, from rapper Talib Kweli to hip-hop poet and singer Saul Williams, that isn't a painful "audio beat down." I have a hard time with labels like black music and white music. Why can't people just listen to music, period--rock, rap or whatever they want?

KOVARIK GLASCO Atlanta

Coates' Essay hit home with me. I am a 37-year-old black man born and raised in New York City. I grew up listening to R&B and of course hip-hop. But as the years passed, I too began listening to "white music." Let's be real: How many times must you hear lyrics about your hot car, how you degrade your (black) women, how you will mess someone up if he comes at you and your bling-bling a certain way? Sad to say, those repetitive strains are in R&B and rap music. I love Gavin DeGraw's I Don't Want To Be, Nickelback's How You Remind Me and Green Day's Time of Your Life. The lyrics of those songs hit home with anyone--black or white.

IRVING SMITH New York City