Letters: Dec. 25, 2006

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You failed to address the enormous role the media have in influencing Americans' perception of risk. While a preventable ailment like heart disease kills about 700,000 Americans annually, consumers are bombarded with scary images of terrorism, school violence and pandemics without the benefit of a clear context or information about the absolute risk. We need a citizenry that takes the time to understand risk, but we also need media that refrain from preying on our emotions. BEN BLINK Eau Claire, Wis.

According to the statistics you cited, all deaths are related to an accident or a disease. Thanks a lot. Until I read the article, I was planning on a painless death in my sleep many years in the future. Now I have something to worry about. ROD LIBER Los Angeles

While not engaging in skydiving certainly greatly reduces the chance of dying in a skydiving accident, it does not bring the risk to zero, as one of your sources stated. One could still be so unfortunate as to be standing underneath a skydiver whose chute fails to open. LAURENCE MARK New York City

Game Plans for Gates

You outlined four possible choices that the new Secretary of Defense, Bob Gates, could pursue in Iraq [Dec. 4], but none included getting that country's neighbors involved. This narrow-minded arrogance, the presumption that we have all the answers, is exactly how the U.S. got to this point. It is time for the Administration to get other countries involved in finding a solution to the impossible situation the U.S. faces in Iraq. We might actually gain some goodwill, something we need in the Middle East. LORI SMITH Austin, Texas

Gates has no options. The U.S. had badly damaged both Iraq and itself, and it is time to bring the troops home. Readily available explosives, lethal light arms and portable rockets can give any group of determined insurgents and suicide bombers the tools to defeat a foreign army, no matter how militarily superior it may be. To change the world, we must lead by example and by helping, not by bullying with our armed forces. JOHN HILBERRY New York City

All the options for Iraq you cited assume the U.S. should continue supporting the current Iraqi government. That government cannot offer its citizens security and would fall quickly in the absence of U.S. guns and funds. How can you ride a dead horse? BENJAMIN DOORS Lombard, Ill.

The photo of six marines on the cusp of adulthood, seeking warmth from a small, crude fire in Iraq, reveals the callous incompetence of the Bush Administration. While President George W. Bush and new Secretary of Defense Gates ponder which "stay the course" strategy they should select for the war in Iraq, these young men may live only slightly longer than their fire. When a President declares war, he should have the courage to fight it. Bush's cowardly refusal to reinstate the draft and put more boots on the ground has thrown Iraq into a civil war. I pray Gates has the courage to admit defeat and bring our troops home. HELEN TACKETT Fullerton, Calif.