Letters

The TIME 100

TIME's list of the 100 most influential people in the world was a fascinating celebration of human spirit, ideas and drive.
EMILY HAMEL FLAUTT
Brentwood, Tenn.

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Reading your selections was like taking a complete college course on modern issues [April 26]. Your list was a rare source of information for those who want to know more about what's happening in today's world.
MARCIA MONTEIRO
New York City

There are three kinds of people on your list: those we have been fawning over far too long (Pope John Paul II, Nelson Mandela, Bill and Hillary Clinton), those we should not be fawning over at all (Nicole Kidman, Oprah Winfrey, Bill Gates) and people I have never heard of (Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Jurgen Habermas, Azim Premji?). Enough already!
JERRI BENNETT VAN HOUTEN
Anaheim Hills, Calif.

If a judge on the TV show American Idol, Simon Cowell (whom I love dearly), is among the top 100 notable people, then we are in great trouble indeed.
DOUG STOKES
Ann Arbor, Mich.

In his profile of George W. Bush, Andrew Sullivan said the President is an unassuming man who became a "radical gambler." But as the death toll in Iraq grows ever higher, please note: Bush is gambling with other people's lives.
VICTORY VAN DYCK CHASE
Princeton, N.J.

Sullivan stated that the president has conducted "historically successful" wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Last time I checked, we were still fighting in Iraq, despite having "won" there. The Bush Administration keeps saying the real winners are the Iraqi people, although they don't seem so victorious when they keep getting blown up by bombs. Others argue that the real winner is al-Qaeda, which is filling its ranks with young Arabs and Muslims galvanized by this great American "victory." How nice! A war in which everyone wins!
BOOMER PINCHES
Istanbul

While I applaud the effort that went into selecting TIME's 100, it made me uncomfortable that the Heroes & Icons category, which listed the Dalai Lama and Nelson Mandela, also included Arnold Schwarzenegger and Mel Gibson. Schwarzenegger and Gibson became icons as film stars, and their real contributions to the world have the importance of mere pinpricks.
BRONWYN NOBLE
Madison, Wis.

President Vladimir Putin may be a nuisance to the West, but Russians approve of him. Russia is experiencing economic growth, is paying its debts and is a growing influence in world politics. Compared with the era of Boris Yeltsin, today Russia shows overall improvement. And certain individuals who became billionaires by robbing the public are facing justice. Putin will probably amend the constitution so he can run for a third term, and Russians will overwhelmingly re-elect him. If that's not democracy, what is?
DIMITRIS RAPTIS
West Chester, Pa.

Are we really supposed to accept that Britain's place in the world and the influence and standing of Tony Blair, its most effective Prime Minister in years, have slipped so far that Blair doesn't merit a place on the TIME 100 list? Is John Kerry more influential than Blair?
ROBERT COCK
Wiltshire, England

Thank you for selecting singer Norah Jones. She is unassuming and humble, but she still comes out on top. Why is it that Jones is so appealing? Because she offers a refreshing break from look-at-my-body pop stars who focus on image over substance.
NEAL STOLAR
Pottstown, Pa.

One for the Top 10

In "Being No. 101," Joel Stein lamented that physician Paul Farmer had the ignominious distinction of placing 101st on the list of the TIME 100 [April 26]. Stein suggested that the exclusion of Farmer, an infectious-disease specialist who spends most of his time at a charity hospital in Haiti, hinged on the selfless doctor's lacking "a publicist, agent, manager or even a stylist." Let me remind Stein of author Tracy Kidder's Mountains Beyond Mountains, a brilliant and poignant testimonial to Farmer's altruism as well as a chronicle of his dedication to eradicating diseases in poor countries. With Kidder as Farmer's credible biographer, I'd place the good doctor in TIME's Top 10.
EDWARD D. TOLAND III
Indian Wells, Calif.

Don't Fiddle with the FBI

FBI agent Coleen Rowley showed clarity of vision and courage in risking her career to disclose intelligence failures within the FBI in 2002. In her Viewpoint, "What the FBI Needs and Doesn't Need" [April 26], she wrote that taking domestic intelligence gathering away from the FBI and giving it to a new agency modeled after Britain's MI5 would undermine post-9/11 intelligence-agency reforms and would not be a positive move. A new government entity cannot help prevent another 9/11. The best possible strategy for handling terrorist threats is to steel our resolve, use our common sense and not repeat the actions that led a former FBI official to say, "We did not know what we knew."
M. SALEEM CHAUDHRY
Chicago