Letters

• Share

Afghanistan: The Other War
The face of Marine Corporal Patrick Gravenese on your cover said it all. He is tired of the war, but he has to go on—for all of us.
Sid O'Brien
Signal Hill, U.S.

The Taliban is like a venomous cobra, striking at everyone who wants to help Afghanistan become modern and independent [March 8]. The token presence of American forces or U.N. peacekeepers will not bring about a solution. The entire world will have to struggle for years, helping Afghanistan in its transformation. We must achieve this goal.
K.C. Subhash Chandra
Bangalore, India

It is important to remember that Afghan President Hamid Karzai was not necessarily the choice of all the various Afghan factions, and there are people who feel strongly that there was interference in the political process that led to his selection. As you reported, to this day Karzai is protected by U.S. bodyguards. If Afghans regard his presidency as legitimate, presumably some of them could be found to perform this duty.
Paul Kunino Lynch
Katoomba, Australia

My immediate reaction to your cover headline "Afghanistan: the Other War" was, Shouldn't this be the only war?
F. William Roff
Neptune City, U.S.

High-Priced Digs
Your article "The Families That Own Asia" [Feb. 23] told of the Minoru and Akira Mori family and its real estate developments. The family's construction business has been remaking central Tokyo's skyline. But you might have noted that rental apartments in Mori buildings are quite expensive. The average Japanese family has a monthly budget of about $2,900. That entire amount would not be enough to rent even the humblest Mori apartment. No doubt the public areas of bold developments such as Roppongi Hills have created something that contribute to society—places to visit, have dinner, possibly even work. But live there? That's an impossible dream for most people.
Ted Fotos
Tokyo

Appealing for Justice
The powerful photographs with the article "Nothing Left to Lose," on Chinese petitioners who travel to Beijing in search of government redress for injustices, spoke volumes [March 1]. Who could argue against the adage that a skillfully taken and meaningful picture is worth a thousand words? The aftermath of the Cultural Revolution left many Chinese utterly distrustful of their mighty Communist Party officials. Most victims would just swallow the bitter pills of injustice, recognizing that their protests would fall on deaf ears and their efforts would be futile. In fact, these petitioners had hardly any official channels through which to properly address their grievances, let alone submit formal papers. Yet some diehards kept trying, hoping against hope that one day their suffering would be relieved. If there is a hope, there will be a way.
Tan Boon Tee
Singapore

Bush's Re-election Bid
You reported that the President's re-election team has already raised more than $140 million [March 8]. This has to be one of the most obscene pursuits in the history of the American presidency. The U.S. is for sale to Big Money.
Robert Fedorchek
Fairfield, U.S.

George W. Bush may have raised a huge sum for his re-election campaign, but money can't buy competence or credibility with the voters. Remember the Bush team's "careful planning" and patronizing self-confidence before launching the war in Iraq?
Phillip Nelson
Aptos, U.S.

In politics as in life, you cannot get the best but often have to choose the least bad. Bush has not only proved incapable of solving problems at home (creating an enormous budget deficit) but has also endangered the whole world by drawing back from international commitments (like the Kyoto Protocol), undermining the authority of the U.N. and ignoring the advice of old allies and the sentiments of the international community. Thanks to Bush's blind policies, the world is a much more dangerous place today. The American people must put an end to this.
Morena Nannetti
Munich

An Insult to Churchill?
Andrew Sullivan's attempt to draw parallels between Winston Churchill and Bush in his essay "If It Could Happen to Churchill ..." was unconvincing [March 8]. Churchill's war against Hitler was necessary. Bush's war against Saddam Hussein was not. Churchill knew what Hitler was doing. Bush relied on faulty intelligence about Saddam's weapons of mass destruction. After the war, Britons may have wanted a different political party to lead them during peace. Postwar America's decision about who should be President is still up in the air. Only the elections will tell. Let's wait and see.
Ravi Nekoo
Kuala Lumpur

Seldom have I found an essay to be more off the mark. Sullivan's only correct statement is that Bush faces re-election problems. Although Churchill was indeed a great leader, Sullivan's claim that "he was the difference between victory and defeat" carries things way too far. It was the British navy and air force that kept the Nazis from invading Britain. But final victory required having Russia and the U.S. on Britain's side. So whether the British Prime Minister had been Neville Chamberlain or Winston Churchill or Clement Attlee, there would not have been a British defeat at the hands of the Nazis.
Wolfgang J. Remark
Markgroeningen, Germany

Terror Train
The death sentence imposed on Japanese cult leader Shoko Asahara for the 1995 sarin-gas attack in the Tokyo subway [NOTEBOOK, March 8] brought back the horror of that assault. We covered the disaster, which caused the death of 12 and injured more than 5,500, in our April 3, 1995, issue:

"The man in the subway wore big sunglasses ... he had on a surgical mask; but then, a lot of people in Tokyo wear masks during hay-fever season. The witnesses agree he boarded the eight-car B711T train on Tokyo's Hibiya line when it originated at 8 a.m. at the Nakameguro station ... the masked man easily found a seat and ... almost immediately began fiddling with a foot-long rectangular object wrapped in newspapers. At the next stop he set the package on the floor and strode briskly from the train. By then, says a witness, a moist spot had appeared on the wrapping. Michael Kennedy ... saw that the spot had turned into 'a pool of oily water on the floor. I noticed this quite offensive smell that I can't really describe.' Others smelled it too and edged away. By Kamiyacho station, 11 minutes after the strange man had boarded, commuters panicked ... 'I saw several dozen people on the platform who had either collapsed or were on their knees unable to stand up,' recalls Nobuo Serizawa, a photographer ... Said Kiyo Arai, a 22-year-old government employee who was stricken ... : 'We're just innocent, ordinary people. It frightens me to think how vulnerable we are.'"

Setting the Record Straight
Cult Expert in Japan
In our NOTEBOOK item on the verdict of Aum Shinrikyo's leader Shoko Asahara [March 8], we quoted an expert on cults whom we incorrectly named as Yoshio Arita. His name is Yoshifu Arita.