Letters

Iraq: State of Siege
The most dangerous development that Americans face in Iraq is the menacing union of Sunni and Shi'ite radicals [April 19]. The members of the two main branches of Islam often don't respect each other. In Iraq there has always been a big gap between the Sunni government under Saddam Hussein and the Shi'ite majority of the population, which was suppressed by the dictator and his followers. Now that Saddam is out and others are in power, both Sunnis and Shi'ites are disappointed and will start to fight hand in hand for an independent Muslim country.
Sidha Baghavatha
Bhopal, India

Thugs is an inadequate word for the Shi'ite militiamen of cleric Muqtada al-Sadr who have been battling the U.S. Thugs are what police deal with on city streets. But U.S. troops in Iraq aren't getting rolled for their wallets. Fighters using rocket-propelled grenades and firing at Apache helicopters are more than common thugs. These people are guerrillas, soldiers, insurgents, rebels or terrorists. Calling them thugs only downplays the difficulties in Iraq. Once President George W. Bush and the American people realize we're not dealing with thugs, then maybe we can come up with the number of troops necessary to combat this violence.
Reggie Newton
Chicago

The U.S. should not be surprised by the Iraqi insurgency. Iraqis see the American and coalition forces as occupiers, not liberators. Why shouldn't there be resistance? Remember: neither the international community nor the U.N. approved the occupation, the belief that Saddam threatened the world with weapons of mass destruction was false, and the horrible events of 9/11 had nothing to do with Iraq. Having decided to invade a sovereign country, the Bush Administration finds it cannot walk away. This adventure had disaster written all over it from the start.
Derrick Elliston
London

The war in Iraq is over; nothing can be done to reinstate Saddam. The occupation government in Iraq, however, should not be replaced before its work is done. The Iraqi insurgents are only prolonging the occupation. A democratic government in Iraq cannot emerge during a state of chaos. Let Iraq learn from Japan, which was able to achieve postwar greatness because the Japanese exercised restraint during the U.S. Occupation after World War II.
Okoro Ndukwe
Aba, Nigeria

Decisions, Decisions
Re "No Easy Options" [April 19]: I was not in favor of this war, and I don't believe this country can take four more years of Bush and his tactics. However, the U.S. cannot leave Iraq now and abandon the Iraqis, most of whom just want peace and security. We believe in human rights. If we pull out our troops, there will be a civil war with many innocent victims. We must stay and finish the job. We need more troops and we need to be more aggressive, even if it means destroying mosques or neighborhoods.
Phyllis L. Truitt
Evansville, U.S.

The population of Iraq consists mainly of Shi'ites, Sunnis and Kurds—three groups who detest each other. Perhaps the only unifying factor in Iraq is a hatred of the West. For 30 years, Iraqi citizens were suppressed by a brutal dictator who murdered them by the thousands and involved them in ruinous wars while plundering the country for his personal benefit. How can the coalition ever hope to "restore" democracy in Iraq, when it is doubtful that it ever existed there? The solution for the U.S. and its allies is to put a new dictator in charge and go home.
David Lenhoff
Perth

A Guide to the Big Picture
Joe Klein criticized Condoleezza Rice, President Bush's National Security Adviser, for being impractical in her strategic approach to world issues [April 19]. But Klein is misguided. An impractical thinker looks at the bigger picture, including the larger ramifications of actions. I would take an impractical, big dreamer over someone focused on tactics who has lost sight of what is really important.
Jeffrey I. Kaplan
Paramus, U.S.

Klein's essay vividly illustrated Einstein's famous saying that imagination is more important than knowledge. Rice's performance before the 9/11 commission showed her to be smart but ultimately not a big thinker. Even more appalling is Bush's claim that he would have done something if he had known exactly when and where al-Qaeda would strike. The statement makes plain the Administration's failure to appreciate that the mishandling of the threat from al-Qaeda was not a failure of intelligence but a failure of imagination.
Michael H. Weiss
Marina del Rey, U.S.

Although I totally oppose the bush Administration's policies, I have to sympathize with Rice for the badgering she underwent in her appearance before the 9/11 commission. During his questioning, commission member Richard Ben-Veniste simply was not prepared to give her room to answer. He appeared to be playing to the audience and the cameras. I hated the smirk on his face when the crowd unashamedly applauded his manners (or lack of them).
Sajan H. Malik
Karachi

Briefing the President
After reading about the recently declassified Presidential Daily Brief of Aug. 6, 2001, entitled "Bin Laden Determined To Strike in US" [April 19], I found it difficult to accept Bush's view that the memo contained no indication of a terrorist threat or a time and place of attack. The brief stated that there were "patterns of suspicious activity in this country consistent with preparations for hijackings or other types of attacks" and that "a group of bin Laden supporters was in the US planning attacks with explosives." How much more detailed did the memo have to be? If terrorists are planning future attacks, perhaps they could provide an itinerary, including a calendar, maps and photos of the terrorists, for the President to read on his interminable vacations.
Ben Adams
Los Angeles

So the pre-9/11 warnings about terrorist threats did not raise any red flags within the Bush Administration, but the flimsy intelligence on Saddam's supposed weapons of mass destruction was sufficient to compel the U.S. to go to war at a cost of hundreds of American lives and hundreds of billions of dollars? The President and his staff are clearly hypocritical, if not criminally irresponsible.
Ben Robertson
Windsor, Canada

Slow and Steady
It was at once sad and edifying to read that British navy mascot Timothy the Tortoise died in Britain at age 160 [April 19]. Despite wars, ethnic and religious strife, environmental destruction and the ongoing extinction of wildlife species, Timothy was a fortunate tortoise who endured and endeared during a monumentally long existence. And even though this turtle was a distinguished navy veteran, we can assume that it was unaffected by fame and not prone to vainglory!
Brien Comerford
Glenview, U.S.

Vexed Voters in Taiwan
Your article about Taiwan's Kuomintang (KMT) party described the problems it is facing after losing the presidential election [April 19]. I take strong exception to the view that the kmt is an ailing dinosaur whose time is over. The real issue for the majority of voters in Taiwan, regardless of political belief, is not who governs but whether the election process and the vote held on March 20 were legal, objective and fair. If many of us who oppose President Chen Shui-ban could believe that his election was honest, we would accept our defeat, determined to come back again in another four years. But we think the election was tainted with fraud, misconduct and irregularities, not to mention the failed assassination attempt on the President. Many Taiwanese are angry and vexed that we were stripped of our right to an honest and unbiased election.
Alex H. Shah
Taipei

With Saddam's Consent
The grim scenes of kidnapping and violence in Iraq [IRAQ, April 19] are a depressing contrast to the rapid rout of Saddam Hussein's troops after Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in the Gulf War of 1991. Not long after the end of that conflict, however, Saddam was already reasserting his power, as we noted in a March 29, 1993, article. This piece also revealed his barbaric wartime behavior, as detailed in a U.S. government report:

"Two years after Saddam's shattering defeat in the Gulf War, the Iraqi dictator remains in full control of the Baghdad government ... Every step he takes has been aimed at buttressing his authority ... Saddam's power base remains solid ... 'When things threaten to fall apart,' says Baghdad novelist Jabra Ibrahim Jabra, 'you stick with the man who can hold it together.' ... Citizens are unlikely to be moved by the U.S. report made public last week cataloging just how brutally Saddam's forces behaved in the Gulf War. According to Pentagon investigators, Iraq tortured and killed 1,082 Kuwaiti civilians and violently abused all captured prisoners of war. Kuwaiti victims were dismembered by axes and drowned in acid baths; U.S. POWs were beaten and forced to urinate on the American flag. The atrocities were so widespread, said the report, 'that they could not have occurred without the authority or knowledge of Saddam Hussein.'"

Setting the Record Straight
• In "A Literary Score," our People item about British soccer player David Beckham, referred to his "famous left foot" [April 19]. Although Beckham's left is certainly well known (he fractured it during a 2002 Manchester United match), it is his right foot that makes him a great player. We also said he penned his memoir, My Side, at age 26. He was 27 when the book was written.

• The People item on twins Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen [April 19] said in error that their first feature film is the new release New York Minute. In fact, they previously appeared in the full-length 1995 comedy It Takes Two.

• In our article "Uncommon Brilliance" [April 19], a caption stated that a diamond photographed for the story belonged to De Beers. In fact, it was purchased from De Beers by Indian factory Blue Star.

• In our story on Japan's economic recovery [April 12], we said that the 2003 steel production for Nippon Steel's Kimitsu Works was 925 million tons and that the Japanese government's yen intervention from the start of this year amounted to $900 billion. The numbers should have read 9.25 million and $95 billion, respectively.