Letters

One factor behind Asia's soaring divorce rates [April 5] is that while women have begun pursuing professional careers, they still have to manage the family and household when they get home. They have too much to do. They can't ask their husbands for help at home because the women are afraid the men will become overstressed at work. So wives keep their frustration to themselves, and it builds up, day after day. Women can demand things from their employers but not from their spouses. The divorce rate may fall when women attain in the home the kind of power they have gained in the workplace. But it will take time because we all have to change our thinking and traditional roles, especially in Japan.
Koji Yamazaki
Toyohashi, Japan

Feeling the Heat
Could the Bush administration have done more to combat terrorism before 9/11 [April 5]? The answer is a resounding yes! Unfortunately, that is also true for every American state and city as well as for governments around the world. No investigative commission can undo 9/11, but we have a chance to thwart other attacks. That's where the world's time, money and manpower should be directed. I wish the U.S. would lead that effort and not use valuable resources to second-guess what happened leading up to 9/11.
Ronald Erickson
Downers Grove, U.S.

I have profound respect for Condoleezza Rice and her accomplishments as George W. Bush's National Security Adviser. Whether she should have been more proactive in addressing terrorist threats during the months before 9/11 is open to debate. U.S. citizens have a right to know, however, what went wrong and how future attacks might be prevented. Whatever the outcome of the investigation, one can say that although the Bush Administration went all the way to Iraq in search of weapons of mass destruction, it failed to [recognize] the fatal errors committed right [there] in the White House.
Srinivas Balla
Fairfax, U.S.

Clarke and the Commission
Richard A. Clarke, whatever his political allegiance, served the U.S. ably for decades as counterterrorism adviser [April 5]. His portrayal of the Bush Administration as probably lax in preventing the 9/11 attacks is accurate and truthful. The Administration has impugned Clarke's character and attacked his testimony. It is obvious that Clarke's observations have exposed the Administration's vulnerability and raised fears about the outcome of the presidential election.
Rick Zimmerman
Solon, U.S.

When Clarke began his testimony before the 9/11 commission, he said the U.S. government, others entrusted with protecting Americans and he had failed our citizens. Your article noted that some people found Clarke's apology melodramatic, but I thought it was innately decent and human. There is no shame in fallible human beings admitting to mistakes. That sentiment isn't shared by politicians. It seems that sorry is not in the Bush White House's dictionary.
David Estes
Washington

Band of Bombers
Johanna McGeary's "Inside Hamas," a report on the secretive Palestinian group known for its suicide bombings, was comprehensive, insightful and an example of journalistic courage [April 5]. It was good to read an in-depth story on this organization. I do not condone Hamas' methods, but too often the media do not attempt to examine the validity of its grievances. Until a political resolution is developed, innocents will keep dying on both sides.
Razab Chowdhury
Oakland, U.S.

Hamas has succeeded where the Palestinian Authority has failed. It is free of corruption and organized, provides practical help to those who need it, carries out social services and restores pride to the Palestinian people. Though suicide bombings are abhorrent, they cannot be viewed in isolation. They give Palestinians psychological control over their deaths that they do not have over their lives. The bombings are their way of saying to Israel, "You have not succeeded in subjugating us." Hamas cannot win a war against Israel and its powerful army, but the group gives Palestinians the strength to resist.
Hannah Rose
London

Why is world opinion so opposed to the actions taken against Hamas by the Israeli military? How would Americans respond to an organization that was hell-bent on eliminating the U.S. as a viable country? Hamas may provide social services for average Palestinians—who have gone without such help because of corruption in the Palestinian Authority—but for Israelis, Hamas is as bad as the Nazis were for Jews. The Palestinians just want to wipe us off the face of the earth. In my view, every possible initiative against Hamas, including execution, is acceptable.
Mike Druttman
Hod Hasharon, Israel

In Defense of Sri Lanka
In your story "Warring Parties" [March 29], you wrote that President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga kept a campaign-rally crowd waiting for three hours. The President was asked to arrive at 4:30 p.m. and not before, as per usual practice at major political rallies in the country. She arrived at the scheduled time. You wrote that the President "used her constitutional powers to seize [the Prime Minister's] government while he was on a visit to Washington." The President took control of 3 ministries out of 68, which is not seizing the government. You wrote that the President has stalled "[the Prime Minister's] negotiations to end a civil war with the Tigers," but the negotiations had already stalled in April 2003. You wrote that the President decided "unilaterally to add another year to her term." This was not a unilateral decision—the constitution of Sri Lanka says that the President's term shall be six years. You wrote that "the imf delayed an $80 million aid tranche after the recent turmoil." The imf stalled payment of this tranche because of mismanagement of the economy. You quoted the Prime Minister as saying that "the President has said before that politics and power in Sri Lanka is a Bandaranaike family preserve." The President is emphatic she never said this. You wrote that "Sinhalese Buddhist mobs have burned or vandalized more than 100 Christian churches." This is the work of a small extremist group whose members are now in custody. They attacked mostly evangelist prayer houses, not churches.
Eric Fernando
Director General
Policy Research and
Information Unit, President's Office
Colombo, Sri Lanka

At a Time of War, an Inspiration to her People
Juliana, the former Queen of the Netherlands who died last month, was shy, informal and enormously popular with her subjects [MILESTONES, April 5]. During World War II, the German blitzkrieg of May 1940 and the subsequent occupation of Holland initially traumatized the Dutch, but eventually their resistance took on a unique character of subtle rebellion and solidarity in opposing the Nazis. Juliana was an inspiration to her people during that time, even from abroad. The year she became Queen, we looked back at her recent past and described a moving wartime plea she made for help [Sept. 6, 1948]:

"In 1940, fleeing the Nazis, [Juliana] went to Canada ... For the first time in her life she was on her own. She went to a microphone and spoke to the Canadian and American people, a simple woman, a mother, and unmistakably a princess ... For her nation ... she asked respect: 'Whatever you do, do not give me your pity. No woman ever felt as proud as I do of the marvelous heritage of my own people ... They had always maintained the right of the individual to his own liberty ... of his person ... of his soul ... Placed before the terrible choice of surrendering those rights or of dying in their defense, they never hesitated ... Pity is for the weak, and our terrible fate has made us stronger than ever before.'"

Setting the Record Straight
Not The Only One
In our report on Condoleezza Rice, George W. Bush's National Security Adviser [April 5], we said Brent Scowcroft was the only person to serve as National Security Adviser under two Presidents. McGeorge Bundy and Henry Kissinger also served as National Security Adviser for two Presidents: Bundy under John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson, and Kissinger under Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford.

Widening Grounds
In our story on Asia's divorce boom [April 5], we said that in the Philippines, "the grounds for annulment of a marriage have been widened ... to include cases where one partner has a low IQ." In fact, the grounds for annulment are in the process of being widened to include such cases.