Letters

Overcoming Obesity
Thank you for the comprehensive articles on the worldwide epidemic of obesity [Aug. 9]. It is only to be expected that people are overweight; after all, from childhood we are taught to consume as much as possible. Clearly, too many of us believe that if a little is good, more is better and too much is just enough.
Charles J. Huebner
Petoskey, Michigan, U.S.

It is O.K. to have scientific reasons for a particular disease or a condition like obesity, but we all make choices when it comes to self-restraint and moral judgment. Americans just plain eat too much. Like most things in the U.S., everything has to be supersized. Anything you do without moderation will definitely hurt you.
Leonard Lawal
Lagos

Your cover story on obesity is welcome. It would be appropriate to feature this problem on a monthly basis. I have noticed a disturbing trend in the U.S.: clothing is being resized, and everything is being made bigger. It is hard to believe any progress is being made in the war against fat. Here in Paris, if you eat out, the food is high priced and the occasion is a cherished time spent with friends.
Emily Donahue
Paris

The key message about maintaining a healthy weight is to eat less and exercise more. We must pass this on to young children. Kids love to exercise, but sadly our way of life does not encourage them to do so. I send my child to a kindergarten in the woods, where students exercise every day; get in touch with nature; and eat healthful, fresh foods. There is no McDonald's, no advertising, no unnecessary distractions. This approach, however, takes dedication and money. Unfortunately the financial support we need is rarely forthcoming from the government.
Barbara Fischer
Murnau-Westried, Germany

We shouldn't blame fast-food restaurants for making us as fat as we are, nor should the government get involved and tell us what we can or cannot eat. Common sense is the answer. Instead of driving to the nearest grocery store, take a walk.
Dana Sawyer
Williamsport, Pennsylvania, U.S.

The Dems Convene
In his piece "the audacity of hope," Joe Klein analyzed the impact of John Kerry's speech at the Democratic Convention [Aug. 9]. After I listened to Kerry talk, I got the impression that he is a man who is truly educated and enlightened. Very likely, he has been "misunderestimated" by Bush regarding his potential for the "embetterment" of America.
Varakur S. Gopalakrishnan
Bombay

For Kerry to change his mind at times is not a fault but a virtue — and even a sign of intelligence. As new information comes to light on an issue or conditions change, a good thinker can objectively re-evaluate the potential outcome for the long run instead of doggedly sticking to old prejudices. My hope is that many voters will take Kerry as an example and have the intelligence and courage to change their preference to him.
Alan Benson
Berlin

Kerry says he will respond appropriately to any attack by terrorists. Bush, however, has prevented terrorist attacks by going after the terrorists. Responding or preventing? The choice is easy.
Peter Norsk
Nivaa, Denmark

Fighting for a Second Term
In your article "How Bush Plans to Win" [Aug. 9], you reported that Republican National Committee operatives criticized John Kerry for including only 70 words about his 19-year Senate career in his acceptance speech at the Democratic Convention. The fact that Kerry was elected to four terms indicates that Massachusetts voters feel he has represented their interests well. I eagerly await the opportunity to count how many words George W. Bush will offer on his vaunted political career.
Gabrielle S. Nurre
Edgewood, New Mexico, U.S.

Bush has been campaigning with the slogan "Results Matter." I want to know which results the President is talking about. Osama bin Laden is still at large, terrorism alerts continue on a regular basis (indicating we are no safer than we were before 9/11), our military is stretched thin, our intelligence services remain unreformed, gas prices have reached record highs, and our economy is limping. I can't see any positive results that have come out of the Bush Administration since the fall of the Taliban. Results do matter, but the Republicans have failed to produce any good ones.
David Michaelson
New York City

Al-Qaeda's Poppy Profits
Tim McGirk's article "Terrorism's Harvest" [Aug. 9] described how heroin trafficking is now "a principal source of funding for the Taliban and al-Qaeda terrorists." It's quite ironic that just a few months before we "liberated" Afghanistan by bombing it and sending in troops, we gave a $43 million grant to the Taliban for its splendid job in cutting back opium production. Yes indeed, as Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld put it with unaccustomed understatement, "Democracy is untidy." Tragically, Americans, Afghans and the entire world are paying the price for the untidiness that we have wrought. Might there have been a better way?
Robert G. Newman, M.D., Director
Baron Edmond de Rothschild Chemical Dependency Institute
Beth Israel Medical Center
New York City

Russia's Racists
You quoted Yuri Belyayev, the leader of the St. Petersburg neo-Nazi Freedom Party [Aug. 9], as saying that unless the Russian government recognizes his ultra-right-wing group and agrees to share power, the Nazis will be forced to "launch our version of Sinn Fein to keep talking to the government and our version of the I.R.A. to practice terror." This disturbed young man is grossly misinformed. The I.R.A. was not attempting to wipe out the Unionist population of Northern Ireland, but fought a guerrilla war against the British army to attain Irish sovereignty in the North. To compare the conflict in Northern Ireland with the twisted ideologies of the emerging fascist right in the new Russia is nonsense.
Mark Eiffe
Cork City, Ireland

Your article on young Nazis in Russia may surprise a lot of people, but not if you are Jewish. After things got really bad in Russia in the early 1900s, my great-grandfather left and went to Germany. All his family had was what they carried. In 1936 my mother left her family in Germany. As a young girl, I used to cry for all my lost relatives. But as we mature, we grow in strength and courage. Let the Nazis be punished when they make people afraid of speaking out. Nazism will never go away, but we must oppose it at all costs.
Miriam Atkinson
Bromley, England

Speaking Frankly
I've never seen a more biased interview than Mark Thompson's "10 Questions for Tommy Franks" [Aug. 9]. Every question was a not-so-thinly veiled swipe at the war in Iraq and the Bush Administration, obviously designed to get Franks to agree with Thompson's views. I am thankful General Franks did not take the bait.
Christopher J. Rodel
Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, U.S.

General Franks delivered an Orwellian tour de force. In a single short interview, he blamed the Iraqis for their country's electricity shortage, even though the U.S. created the situation; said he is "very thankful" that Iraq did not possess weapons of mass destruction (WMD), even though this was one of the main justifications for the war; implied that the mere possibility that Saddam Hussein might have acquired WMD justified the war, even though such a broad premise would warrant attacking many other nations; and claimed without evidence that Saddam's regime was working with al-Qaeda, even though there is no substantiation of that claim. I was almost expecting Franks to announce that war is peace, freedom is slavery and ignorance is strength.
Daniel Rose
Fairlawn, Ohio, U.S.

A Selectively Permeable Wall
Matt Rees' "Letter From Jerusalem" [Aug. 2] referred to the separation wall being built by the Israelis, saying it might prevent Palestinian suicide bombers from crossing to Israel. However, it has not prevented Israeli army incursions into the West Bank and Gaza. Moreover, if the wall is completed as planned, long sections of it will run through the heartlands of the West Bank, isolating Palestinian villages, separating residents from their farms and fertile lands, and even dividing Palestinian families. Praising this wall is like praising the Berlin Wall.
Azzam El-Hait
Cairo