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William Jefferson Clinton
I just finished reading President Clinton's side of the story [June 28]. He's still his same old charming self and one of our greatest Presidents, in spite of his weaknesses. And who has none? Under Clinton, the U.S. economy was great. The deficit was eliminated. No devastating wars. No killings. I'd vote for him again if he could run — and I'm an old-time Republican.
Ellen Ruark
Southbury, Connecticut, U.S.

Good men do not have to explain themselves, just as good Presidents do not have to write books to shape their legacy or justify their deeds. A person's actions speak for themselves.
Jerry Garber
San Antonio, Texas, U.S.

How I miss Clinton's intelligent, thoughtful and truly compassionate leadership. He has the kind of genuine concern that pays more than lip service to the needs of the common citizen. I was struck by the fluidity of his responses and his understanding of complex geopolitical issues he faced as President. I am so used to the current Administration's terse, repetitive and convoluted statements — which don't respond to anything — that I had forgotten what real leadership sounds like.
Lynn Capehart
San Diego

I voted for Bill Clinton — twice. I think he was a great President who did terrific things for our country. I absolutely deplore and abominate, however, the person that Clinton is. And I know the meaning of is. Anything for which Clinton should have been respected has been overshadowed by his lascivious behavior and abuse of power.
David Park Brown
Kailua, Hawaii, U.S.

Bill Clinton tells of how counseling helped him overcome his demons. Perhaps the Clinton haters who still seethe with rage at our former President — and who spent much of the '90s spreading vicious rumors about him — should follow Clinton's lead and seek counseling as well. Surely they have demons of their own to overcome.
Quentin Dunne
Sherman Oaks, California, U.S.

Joe Klein thinks Clinton's book will usher in "a brief return to the noxious '90s, a brouhaha for which not many people are nostalgic." This is a clear example of a writer getting carried away by his powers of alliteration. Everybody I know is nostalgic for the '90s, but maybe people like us, who come from the L.A. ghetto, don't count. When Bill Clinton dies, the streets of Washington will be thronged with weeping, praying mourners. But they won't be like the people who watched Reagan's funeral procession. Many of Clinton's mourners will be people who actually live in Washington : black people.
Victoria Brago
Los Angeles

Although Bill Clinton may have been relevant as President, he is largely irrelevant now. And so is his book.
Robert Bills
Laguna Beach, California, U.S.

Clinton is the personification of all Americans: vigorous, ambitious, flawed, talented, vain, sensitive and persistent. His America is the real America, not the movie version. Yes, we will cry real tears for Bill Clinton at his funeral. He is our family; he is us.
Preston Foster
Princeton, New Jersey, U.S.

Bill Clinton has only himself to blame for his tarnished legacy. He was an intelligent President, but he wasn't wise. This has cost him the respect of many Americans. The moral of this story is, Tell the truth, no matter what!
Boll Von Boll
Toronto

I very much liked Clinton's statement that "we should be trying to build alliances and acting with others whenever we can and acting alone only when we have to." Because the U.S. is a superpower, with almost no competition in sight, it may feel it is always right. But that doesn't mean the U.S. has to prove that everyone else is wrong. Only respect for others' views can bring the world nearer to peaceful solutions.
Girish Mehta
Baroda, India

What Joe Klein glosses over is that Clinton was probably the only U.S. President who held up a mirror to the nation so it could inspect its own morality and yet survive the shattered image. Clinton's legacy will be much more than an attack on the moneyed right. His work in the field of AIDS through his foundation is more useful than George W. Bush's limp efforts. My guess is that Clinton will have a memorial better than an eternal flame: the collective respect of those who know that through transgression, suffering and humility, we reach our full human potential.
Marilyn Keegan
Cape Town

The Context of Restraint
In "The Cure For Iraq Fatigue" [June 7], about political speechifying on the Iraq situation, Joe Klein seems to have forgotten a bit of context in disparaging the U.S. forces' "retreat" from Fallujah and its choosing "not to pursue" Shi'ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and his army. The U.S. military reacted the way it did because it was being criticized for causing civilian casualties. Also, al-Sadr was hiding in his hometown, Najaf, in one of the holiest Shi'ite mosques. I have no doubt that U.S. forces could have made Fallujah a ghost town and leveled the mosque in Najaf with al-Sadr in it, but then what would Klein have said?
Rodney Schulling
Chisinau, Moldova

Culpability or Shame?
You wrote about how Bush administration officials looked into reshaping America's stance on torture [June 21]. Torture is torture. Period. Honor is honor. Period. There are no shades of gray. If the U.S. wishes to hold itself up as the light of freedom and civil rights, it must maintain moral principles in all situations. Punishment of the soldiers directly involved in the Abu Ghraib abuse is pure hypocrisy if we do not also bring to justice everyone in the military chain of command, as high up as necessary. The U.S.'s standing in the world community requires this.
Michaelene Pendleton
Moab, Utah, U.S.

Parting with Pounds
After reading Josh Tyrangiel's essay "Getting Pounded," about the high cost of living in London [June 28], I couldn't help running around my office telling everyone I wasn't just another non-Brit who thinks London is a complete and utter rip-off. Tyrangiel depicted my husband's and my sentiments exactly. May I reassure Tyrangiel that eventually it will get easier to part with his pounds. After a few years, he'll justify spending £40 on a Diesel T shirt by telling himself he's worked so darn hard that he deserves a treat, even if it comes at a high price! After five years here, I still convert back to the South African rand, balk at the cost, but then hand over my cash. What else can you do?
Jackie Cranke
Collier Row, England

Unanswered Questions
After months of work, the 9/11 commission has found no evidence that Iraq was involved in the 2001 attacks on the U.S. [June 28]. Shortly after that news, President Bush said, "The reason I keep insisting that there was a relationship between Iraq and Saddam [Hussein] and al-Qaeda [is] because there was a relationship between Iraq and al-Qaeda." I am so tired of mindless, circular and arrogant reasoning from this President. It doesn't convince me of anything and leaves me with an empty feeling about the leadership of this country.
Tom Bensky
San Luis Obispo, California, U.S.

Now that all the hoopla is over regarding how the 9/11 hijackers did their dirty deed, one would hope the discussion might turn to why they did it. Americans and the rest of the world deserve a public debate on that issue. Besides going to war, spending billions and making more enemies, is there anything we can do to prevent it happening again?
Robert S. Moore
Huntsville, Alabama, U.S.

How His Faith Is Received
Your story "the faith factor," on religion and the Oval Office [June 21], included a quotation by me. Contrary to the implication and context of your reference, my remark had nothing to do with President Bush personally. Instead, I was referring to the way he invokes God and Jesus, and good and evil, in policymaking speeches, apparently intending their impact to "bypass the mind and go straight to the bloodstream" of his listeners.
Elaine Pagels, Professor of Religion
Princeton University
Princeton, New Jersey, U.S.

No one should question Bush's faith. The President has held onto his beliefs through tough times when many people would have had doubts. The controversy over whether religious faith should drive decisions in the White House shows how much our nation has changed. Without the convictions of America's forefathers, this wonderful nation of ours might not even exist. Keep up the good work, Mr. President!
Rachel Anderson
Chanhassen, Minnesota, U.S.

God and religion are the very foundation of this country. God should never be taken out of civic life. America is suffering enough as it is. God needs to be a part of what we do.
Erika Boda
Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.

The basic problem in the world today is that there is too much religion and not enough common sense.
Richard G. Harms
Issaquah, Washington, U.S.

Exit Strategy
President Bush has carried out a war in Iraq that has brought more harm than good to the U.S. economy and the world as a whole [June 28]. Now that sovereignty has been handed back to the Iraqis, the only thing for Americans to do is leave the country immediately, before something more terrible than Sept. 11 happens.
Anene Eziafa
Anambra, Nigeria