Dear Joe,

When are politicians going to own up to the fact that we are in the midst of multiple unsustainable trajectories: i.e., the national debt, Medicare/Medicaid, Social Security. When will someone state the obvious - Americans can no longer have their cake and eat it too?
Charles J Huebner
Petoskey, MI

JOE KLEIN: Not until public pressure forces them to 'fess up. We won't have stand-up politicians until we have stand-up citizens.

Dear Joe,

Can you offer any advice on voting in the upcoming election for centrist independents like me who are furious with the Bush administration's squandering of America's international prestige, the lives of the men and women in its military and its financial resources, but see the Democratic Party as a visionless, directionless, uninspiring, cowardly disappointment?

I am inclined to vote Democratic to punish the Republicans for the actions of its leader, but I'm hesitant because I don't want to reward the Democrats for their performance in recent years or encourage them to think they've done something right. All they've done is not be Republican -- they haven't offered an effective check on the Republicans' power or any clear alternative vision.

Should I sit this one out? Should I vote third party? Both options seem like self-serving protests that would affect nothing. How can I tell both major parties that they're terrible jobs and I expect them to get their acts together and put my country back on the right track?

Thank you in advance for your advice.
Sam Tranum
Chicago, IL

JOE KLEIN: Always best to vote for the candidate you think is best, regardless of party Ñ but, as I wrote in TIME a few weeks ago , the best way to achieve any sort of moderation this year is to return one House of Congress to the Democrats, even though Ñ I agree Ñ they have not provided a plausible alternative the last six years.

Dear Joe,

Do you think Iraq will end up like India after the British did their best to leave the country whole as they were withdrawing.

Despite Lord Mountbatten's best efforts there was a total bloodbath and the creation of two countries - India and Pakistan.
Philip Rhodes
Princeton, NJ

JOE KLEIN: Klein replies: Well, itÕs either that É or Iraq will end up like Iraq after the British leftÑin the hands of a military strongman, since that may be the only way to hold these three former provinces of the Ottoman Empire together. Let's be clear: the war in Iraq is probably the biggest foreign policy mistake in American history. I haven't found anyone yet Ñ in the military, the Bush administration, the Congress, in either party Ñ who has a plausible plan for achieving stability in Iraq. It's difficult to imagine a more difficult, or embarrassing, foreign policy problem.

Dear Joe,

The Administration is comparing Al Qaeda to the fights against Fascism and Communism. OK, let's compare: the Nazis during WW II produced 138,000 aircraft, 46,000 tanks and mobile artillery vehicles, 1,146 submarines, thousands of V1 and V2 rockets, megatons of bombs and other munitions and fielded over 17 million men. The Soviet Union at its height processed WMDs at an almost unimaginable scale. They had 50,000 tons of nerve agents (enough to literally float a battleship) and, not mega, but 10 GIGATONS of nuclear explosives, 600,000 times the power of the Hiroshima bomb.

Al Qaeda has no tanks, no artillery, no ICBMs, no Navy, and doesn't so much as have one Piper Scout for an air force. It is also estimated to have fewer than 20,000 members about a thousand times less than the Nazis were able to muster. Al Qaeda has thus far shown it can knock over a couple of buildings. The Soviet Union could have incinerated continents. Comparing the threat Al Qaeda poses next to these gigantic former enemies is to liken a mosquito bite to being impaled on a fire hydrant.

To have any validity, analogies to past threats have to have destructive potentials at least in the same ball park as the current nemesis. Not only is Al Qaeda not in the same ball park, it isn't even in the same zip code as these two titans. Even if we appeased Al Qaeda (which I dont buy for a second anyone wants to do), are they going to then goose step down the streets of Paris? Are they going to set up extermination camps and liquidate people by the scores of millions? Are they going to enslave billions more? Obviously they don't have the tiniest fraction of the power to accomplish these aims, so appeasing them carries nothing like the same terrible gravity as appeasement of those other two colossuses.

Before the Bush Administration starts tossing around such loaded analogies, they ought to be called on how Al Qaeda and our past struggles really do compare. It might shed some understanding on how out of touch they are in viewing the true nature of the forces we're against.
Sean Driscoll
Spokane, WA

JOE KLEIN: I agree the Bush Administration has bloated the threat in an obscene way—but there is a threat and it must be resisted. Al Qaeda did more than just "knock over a few buildings," which, by the way, was the most lethal enemy attack on the American homeland in our history. Osama's troops also blew up two U.S. embassies, the U.S.S. Cole, and has carried out numerous assassinations and car bombings, especially in Iraq. And there is the very strong possibility of future terrorist acts against our nation. But I do believe that the President has gone about dealing with the threat in the stupidest possible way, creating more Islamic radicals, weakening our strategic position in the world...and he's not done yet.

Dear Joe,

I feel that there will always be war in the Arab world. If they are not fighting us or Israel, they are fighting each other. Personally, I don't see what we need them for. Their religion brainwashes them and subjugates the women. They are raised to believe that they are treated that way because they are highly valued; that is the explanation given to me by a muslum schoolmate when I asked why they put up with the second-class treatment and the whole staying undercover of cloth all the time stuff.

You are not going to get them to stop terrorism and civil unrest for very long, if ever. I do not believe that any democracies we set up are going to stay up for very long. I think the whole thing is an exercise in futility and more politics than practical. It is a waste of our soldier's lives and of our tax dollars IMO.

The only thing they are going to understand, if they understand it, is a big show of force like was given to Japan. Ground war is just stupid in this day and age.

Also, I would like to know since when is a civilian's life worth more than a soldier's life? I don't agree that it is. It used to be called "collateral damage", now it is grounds to put our soldiers on trial.

I think we should use the new bombs that kill people without damaging infrastructure, wipe out the entire area and take over the real estate and oil.Ê I also think that oil should be nationalized.

I doubt any of you will agree with my extreme views; but, I thought I would write anyway.

I also consider illegal aliens as invaders of our country. Janet
Houston, Texas

JOE KLEIN: You're right. I don't agree with your extreme views.You're right that Islam, especially the Arab strain, has been a violent, extreme force in recent history—but that is a corruption of Mohammed's message (just as evangelical Christianity is, in some ways, a corruption of Jesus' message). This is a complicated, but crucial part of the world. The only way we can say goodbye to the Arabs is if we say hello to alternative energy sources. Are you willing to pay 50 cents more at the pump for the privilege of not having to deal with the Arabs? I certainly hope so. As for illegal aliens, does your opinion also apply to Miles Standish, the Pilgrims and all subsequent European colonists? Unless you're a Native American, we're all interlopers here. And I just love the values and work ethic of our most recent, Latino arrivals.

Dear Joe,

What is your take on the Jewish Lobby? From what I read members of the JL have been at least partially responsible for skewing our foreign policy re Iraq and the Irael-Palestinian conflict to the detriment of all concerned.
Albert Chilenskas
Chicago, IL

JOE KLEIN: The Jewish lobby does, sadly, have a profound impact on American foreign policy, especially upon the Bush Administration—but so do the evangelical Christians who see support for Israel as part of the bizarre end-game laid out in the Book of Revelations. I think it's important for us to support the State of Israel, but our policy interests sometimes divergeÑas they did recently in LebanonÑand it's distressing to see Bush's reflexive hewing to the line promoted by the more extreme conservative elements in the Jewish community.

Dear Joe,

Do you think there is a real possibility of a Muslim empire arising from Baghdad to Madrid?
Meg Curtis
Freemansburg, PA

JOE KLEIN: Steve, Steve, read more closely.I'm in favor of staying...but staying smarter. I'm encouraged by Operation Forward Together, the Baghdad counterinsurgency operations that finally—finally!—seeks to restore some stability to Baghdad using methods that have been known to work elsewhere. As for Murtha, I disagree with his position on the war, I disagree with what he said about the Marines (if he actually said it), but that doesn't excuse Rove's disgraceful crap. This is war. People are dying. I'm sick of people on both sides who try and milk this for political benefit...Oh, and I'm immediately suspicious of people on the left and the right, who use terms like MSM and say we just don't get it. Those sorts of people tend to have more opinions than facts.

Joe,

"No progress on the ground"? "No" progress at all? What war are you watching? Did you miss the killing of Z-man?
Use air power, after we withdraw, on tactical missions? How is that "withdrawal"? Is that like promising to withdraw but not doing it?
"[P]oorly planned invasion of Iraq"? How many days did it take us to kick Saddam out? You may be referring to what has taken place afterward, but the invasion was one of the most successful military engagements ever. A little more clarity in your writing might be useful if that's what you meant.
Is your bias showing Joe? I'm not familiar with any entity known as the "g.o.p." especially in a commentary discussing the "Democrats" party. I have, however, heard of the "GOP." Have you or was this just some sort of "left"-handed slur?
Michael Fields
Columbia, MO

JOE KLEIN: Last things first—G.O.P.is TIME Magazine form for the abbreviation of Grand Old Party. I used to simply write GOP before I got here. In fact, I still do, but they always change it. Second, we'll see what impact the very welcome evaporation of Zarqawi—he deserved a more painful death—will have on the insurgency (that's what most of my military intelligence sources say, "We'll see..."). Finally, and most important, Tommy Franks and Donald Rumsfeld should be hung by their thumbs—they will certainly be regarded as disastrous incompetents by military historians—for creating a war plan that completely disregarded Phase IV operations, especially in a country like Iraq, with its history of sectarian divisions, oppression and free-lance violence. I cheered the ease—and humanity—with which our troops made their way to Baghdad. Their leadership has done them, and us, and the Iraqis, a tremendous disservice ever since. Oh, and I think Murtha's plan is to withdraw to neighboring countries, so we can move in and out of Iraq in case of emergencies—and operations like the Zarqawi kill. I'm against that because I believe that if you're a citizen of Baghdad, every day is an emergency—and we have a moral requirement to provide all the security those folks need (which we have failed in doing, miserably).

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