Letters

Woe For China’s Women
The pathetic condition of women in China is a thorn in the side of all those who toil for the equality of humanity [July 28]. One should not believe women are the weaker sex. In today’s world, women have achieved as much as, or more than, men in many fields of endeavor. History shows that there have been many women who ruled nations better than men. Chinese women are the light of the country and the lamp of the family. When we darken the lives of women, we are darkening our own families and country. Let us love, respect and educate them.
Anthony Nayagam
Bangalore, India

Homeland Insecurity
Re “The War Comes Home,” on Americans’ doubts about the case for the Iraq conflict [July 28]: Whenever a bright light is shined on one of President George W. Bush’s justifications for the invasion, it seems to have barely enough substance to cast a shadow. Misleading Congress and the American public into waging a war should attract the attention of the House of Representatives. Such behavior surely exceeds the standard for impeachment set for President Bill Clinton over comparatively trivial untruths having nothing to do with his presidential duties.
Charles J. Pitts
Manassas, U.S.

LATEST COVER STORY
Is the U.S. Stretched too Thin?
September 1, 2003 Issue
Past Covers Asian Journey August 18-25, 2003 —————– Cool Japan August 11, 2003 —————– Gloria Arroyo August 4, 2003 —————– Women in China July 28, 2003 —————– Asian Longevity July 21, 2003 —————– Hong Kong July 14, 2003 —————– Southeast Asia July 7, 2003 —————– Kim Jong Il June 30, 2003 —————–

Terror: Hambali’s heir apparent

North Korea: Kim’s next move

South Korea: Reunification?

Movies: Singapore’s gritty 15

Sports: Japan’s no-hit wonders

India: The new middle class

Economy: Rational exuberance?

Afghanistan: The Taliban returns

Tech: Dawn of the worms

Korea: Roh’s media feud

Milestones

Verbatim

Letters

Thailand: Saving Koh Samui from itself

CNN.com: Top Headlines

A single casualty is one too many, whether in major combat operations or in the current guerrilla attacks, which were easily predictable. The extent of resistance faced by coalition troops is understandably troubling. Despite all the obstacles, Bush appears to be patient, strong and determined to see this matter through. And that is why I think his popularity ratings will soon bounce back.
Agnieszka Idzik
Jaslo, Poland

Suddenly, starkly, the cost of our Iraq adventure becomes clear in terms that every American can understand: $1 billion a week. A body a day. Two questions: What are we buying with this open-ended outpouring of American treasure and lives? And how long will we pay the price?
Ron Bonn
San Diego, U.S.

Considering that Bush’s political bounce from the Iraq war has all but evaporated, what military action will this Administration commence in the fall of 2004 to gain an additional bounce heading into the next presidential election?
Anthony L. Bolzan
Boston

While serving in the military, I learned that one of the most important factors in a leader’s success is commanding the respect of his troops. Nothing was more infuriating than when a superior officer publicly blamed others for a collective misstep. Before belatedly taking responsibility for his words, the President allowed an important member of his Administration to be cast to the lions. The ensuing spectacle is deserved, and the President should not be surprised to see a drop in his Administration’s morale and enthusiasm.
Jack Roberts
White Bear Lake, U.S.

Bush’s war on terrorism clearly indicates that he is willing to wage war to attain peace. Does he really expect to subdue the terrorists by striking terror in their hearts? If so, this cat-and-mouse game will never end.
Asad Javed
Mardan City, Pakistan

“The War Comes Home” proved that deployment of U.S. troops in troubled countries like Iraq will eventually create other Vietnams. When will the U.S. realize that forced, American-style democracy may not be appreciated by all and may only cause resentment and hostility toward Americans abroad? Bush should start rebuilding a more humane image of America.
Dani Karnida
Copenhagen

Of Leaders and Misleaders
Joe Klein was right: by falsely claiming that Iraq sought to buy uranium in Africa, President Bush misled his nation and its allies [July 28]. However, as a Japanese, what I deplore most is that many of my country’s leaders, including Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, seem to be willing to send members of Japan’s Self-Defense Forces (SDF) to Iraq, disregarding not only Japan’s constitution but also questions about the legitimacy of the war. They insist that the reason for deploying the SDF is to help reconstruct the Iraqis’ lives and maintain peace. Why are Japanese leaders kind and obedient enough to comply with the U.S.’s rude and misleading requests? I am sure Japan will completely lose its diplomatic credibility throughout the world, especially in the Arab community, if the SDF is dispatched.
Kiyoshi Sugimoto
Hiroshima

The U.S. is now joined by other countries that can no longer afford Bush’s self-delusions. Klein’s article is a must-read for Koizumi and Japanese lawmakers, who have passed a bill to send troops to Iraq. As Klein stated, “The current military situation is extremely dangerous, not just to the troops on the ground but to U.S. national security in general.” The same holds true for Japan.
Tetsu Suzuki
Kariya, Japan

Where to Find the WMD
I don’t follow the circular reasoning in “The Next WMD Crisis” [July 28]. U.S. military action against North Korea would be justified because the country intends to survive with the help of nukes? Let’s face it: Iraq was invaded because it did not have a sufficiently advanced nuclear program. Would it be any surprise if Iran and North Korea, the other two targets in the “axis of evil,” are developing nukes of their own? If the U.S. is intent on spreading its insecurity around the world, that is what the world will become: insecure.
Wonsun Ahn
Seoul

Wanted: Justice
I am totally disgusted by the humanitarian crisis caused by the civil war in Liberia [notebook, July 28]. President Charles Taylor should quickly prepare his will, because he may end up like his predecessor, Samuel Doemurdered in broad daylight. The blood of the innocent people Taylor has killed will never allow him to evade justice, either here or in heaven.
Henry Ezike
Windhoek, Namibia

Softening the Blow
Charles Krauthammer’s “A Doctor’s Duty,” on the failed attempt to separate the conjoined Bijani twins [July 21], asserted that medically assisted suicide causes us to embark on a slippery slope. How absurd! Krauthammer failed to see the big picture, in which death is simply part of life.
Rusty van Druten
Gauteng, South Africa

Doctors attempted to separate the conjoined Bijani twins to free them from lifelong attachment, and Charles Krauthammer attempted, in his criticism of physician-assisted suicide, to split similarly inseparable moral hairs. The Bijani twins, Krauthammer wrote, “were not seeking self-destruction; they were seeking liberation. And they were trying to undo a form of mutilation imposed on them by nature.” If the twins were willing to die rather than continue living attached to each other, that’s hardly different from people who prefer death to being trapped in a diseased or dysfunctional body. There are those who do not believe that death is oblivion.
Patrick Ivers
Laramie, U.S.

Going for Platinum
In “Liz Gets Girly” [July 21], you said that the feminist-indie-rock star Liz Phair is going pop to make her new album more commercial. Say it isn’t so! I like my female rockers to sound angryat people who have betrayed them and the guys who broke their hearts. Phair’s CD Exile in Guyville was a hit because every woman could relate to it. It is one of my top-10 favorite albums of all time. Get with it, Liz, and get your fire back!
Deborah C. Partee
Fort Wayne, U.S.

The Chechen Rebellion
Yuri Zarakhovich’s article on Chechen suicide bombings in Russia presented a one-sided picture of the Chechen rebellion [July 21]. Although journalist and politician Yuri Shchekochikhin, who died suddenly last month, predicted a wave of suicide bombingssaying “We have entered a new stage. It’s Palestine”he was wrong to identify that conflict with the Chechen rebellion. The Palestinians are fighting to reclaim their homeland. The Chechens call their struggle a “war of liberation.” They say Chechnya never voluntarily joined Russia and was conquered only by military force. For its part, the Russian government calls the war an antiterrorist operation.
Ashhad Ikram Alam
Karachi

Big Dreams and Big Deals
Citigroup CEO Sandy Weill announced in July that he will step aside as leader of the world’s largest banking institution [BUSINESS, July 28]. In 1997 we traced the arc of the legendary financier’s rise, when he was chairman of the company then known as Travelers Group [Oct. 6, 1997]:

“[Weill] is known to keep reams of business information in his headfor instance, precisely when he stomped out as president of American Express after clashing with then CEO James Robinson. ‘August 1985,’ he says, correcting a reporter about the time of the event. In a decade of almost nonstop dealmaking since then, Weill has not only clawed his way back but last week was being hailed as the new king of Wall Street after Travelers sealed a $9 billion deal to acquire Salomon Bros., one of the world’s largest bond-trading houses. Says Weill, 64, of his odyssey: ‘I never thought it could be anything approaching this.’ … Weill stands apart from an industry where oversize egos often overwhelm logic. His latest deal caps years of collecting cast-off companies at fire-sale prices and then trimming costs by paying close attention to detail … ‘I have never in my life said anything was the culmination of a dream,’ Weill observes, ‘because if you stop dreaming, I can’t imagine what the world would be like.'”

To Set the Record Straight
Shortening The Odds Our story on the interaction between genes and the environment [June 2] stated that just 33 genes, each turned on or off, would be enough to make every human in the world unique, because flipping a coin 33 times can result in more than 10 billion combinations. The number of possible combinations is 8.6 billion.