Letters

Wit

Re "Italy's Cup" [July 17]: time was enthusiastic about the success and drama of the monthlong World Cup saga and described in superlatives various aspects of the games and their positive effect on Germany in particular. As a TV viewer who witnessed most of the matches, let me protest that, on the whole, the World Cup was one long soporific. In particular the final stages (the knockout rounds) were unspectacular, with long periods of passing the ball back and forth. Unless FIFA takes action to improve the flow of the game—for instance, reducing the number of players to nine or 10—I certainly will not be among those who view the next series in 2010.
Jeff Lederer
Kfar Hess, Israel

Germany was a first-rate host of the World Cup and made all nations welcome. Germans should no longer feel collective guilt for World War II, as the majority of them are under 60 years old and could not have had anything to do with it anyway. I experienced that war and its horrors, but I have worked quite happily for two German companies and promoted their products. It's time Europeans moved on, combined our strengths and forged a stronger European Union with all future conflict confined to the football field.
Desmond Connelly
Stafford, England

It was heartbreaking to see Italy's triumphant World Cup team on the cover instead of Zinédine Zidane and the French squad he led. Zidane was punished for head butting Marco Materazzi, [who] ... must have said something awfully offensive to provoke Zidane. Zidane cost France the World Cup title, but he still stands as a legend next to Pelé, Diego Maradona, Michel Platini and others.
Mubarak Shamim
Dhaka

Despite the continuing inquest into Zidane's head butting, the problem with Italy's victory is that decisions worth millions are left to an individual who can't always be right: the referee. The pitch is too big, the action is too fast and the players are too cunning for a single referee to make fair and foolproof judgments. Video refereeing is long overdue. The referee's decision may seem final, but it is fatally flawed. Football is a great sport, but the professional matches are a disappointment, since the best actors and the luckiest thugs win millions while the likes of Zidane are punished, condemning their teams to unjust defeat.
David John Wood
Chikushino, Japan

Time to Hang Up the Spurs?
It's sad that it took the administration three years to see what was obvious: the Bush Doctrine is a recipe for disaster [July 17]. The doctrine has stoked the fires of nuclear proliferation. By invading Iraq, which had no WMD, and offering diplomacy and concessions to nations with full or developing nuclear-weapons programs, the U.S. has signaled that potential adversaries should scramble to get nukes as quickly as possible.
Zach Ziskin
Fort Lauderdale, Florida, U.S.

TIME criticized Bush's unilateral foreign policy. But your story demonstrated the ineffectiveness of multilateral diplomacy by pointing out that "since joining multilateral talks over Iran and North Korea, the U.S. has failed to persuade Russia and China, who wield veto power in the U.N. Security Council, to agree to specific sanctions against either Tehran or Pyongyang." So far, it would seem, multilateral diplomacy is batting zero.
Carol Jarrard
Augusta, Georgia, U.S.

Missile Madness
Re "The Kim Conundrum" [July 17], on the problem posed by North Korea's nuclear program and missile tests: Your story said, "Despite the fact that the government of South Korea has little to show for it, polls there suggest people still support the 'sunshine' policy, in place since 1998, which amounts to an all-carrots, no-sticks approach to relations with Pyongyang." I believe that is a little harsh because in the past dozen or so years South Korea has tried diplomacy with the North even as it bolstered its defense capabilities. The combination of strong defense and openness to negotiation is probably about as good as the Republic of Korea can do.
Mike Stark
Greenbelt, Maryland, U.S.

If Bush would invite Kim Jong Il out to his ranch, he might accomplish a great deal on a personal level with Kim that could not happen any other way. Bush should do the same thing with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran. What does Bush have to lose, for God's sake? As the saying goes, "Keep your friends close and your enemies closer."
John Vehon
Dallas

On-Duty Depravity
"A Soldier's Shame" [July 17], on the rape and murder of Abeer Qasim Hamza al-Janabi and the killing of her family members by U.S. soldiers, displayed insensitivity and poor judgment. The article began with a discussion of whether Abeer was beautiful. The answer, we learn, is no: she was merely "ordinary." Does it matter? Would the crime be somehow more understandable if the victim had been pretty? The reason the soldier selected her is unknown. Time's decision to evaluate Abeer's physical attractiveness and speculate on what made her "tantalizing" was both poor journalism and an insult to the young girl who died a violent and tragic death.
Margaret Emery
Washington

Atrocities committed by u.s. soldiers in Iraq are changing the way the U.S. is perceived by the rest of world—and particularly Muslim countries. I used to think of the U.S. military as a great and humane force that saved the world from such menaces as communism and Hitler's evil. I am sure that the vast majority of U.S. Army officers and enlisted men are decent, professional soldiers. But the recent string of incidents that has come to light in Iraq is destroying the reputation of a great professional army. It would be best for the U.S. to find an honorable way out of Iraq quickly. Swift and transparent trial and punishment of the perpetrators of those crimes are the least the U.S. owes to the Iraqi people and indeed to its conscience.
Major Raza Ishaq Malik (ret.)
Lahore

Workers in the Vineyard
TIME's July 17 issue reported that wines are being put out by everyone from golf pros to porn stars. Long before the celebrity marketing trend, bottles bore the names of our Nov. 27, 1972, cover boys, Ernest and Julio Gallo, the post-Prohibition pioneers of the U.S. wine industry:

"Born near Modesto, the brothers grew up working the small vineyard owned by their father, an immigrant from Italy's northern Piedmont. 'We had a tractor in the barn, but we didn't have enough money to buy gas,' recalls Ernest. 'Instead, we used four mules and worked the vineyards seven days a week from daylight to dusk.' With the first stirrings of [Prohibition's] repeal, they dug up $5,900.23 in capital and set out to produce their own wine. They rented a railroad shed for $60 a month, bought a $2,000 grape crusher and redwood tanks on 90- to 180-day terms. There was one nettlesome problem: though they had plenty of experience growing grapes, they did not know how to make wine. In the Modesto public library, Ernest found a pair of two-page pamphlets, one on fermentation and the other on the care of wine. Thus enlightened, he made the rounds of local grape growers and soon had enough grapes to make all the wine that the tanks could hold—but no customers for it." Read more at timearchive.com.

Setting the Record Straight
• Not So Crowded
Our July 10 report on the Israeli incursion into the Gaza Strip incorrectly referred to the area as "the most densely populated patch of land on earth." Gaza is less densely populated than most large cities around the world.