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I worked closely with Richard Clarke, who served as the Clinton White House's point man on terrorism, during the first years of the Reagan Administration, and I have remained friends with him ever since. It will surprise no one who knows Dick that he was one of the few people in the entire government who properly assessed the terrorist threat and proposed actions that--if anyone had listened--would have saved innocent lives. The people who viewed him as the boy who cried wolf too often were clearly wrong and deserve to be fired. Dick, on the other hand, deserves the Presidential Medal of Freedom. DAVID N. SCHWARTZ New York City
Iraq: Weighing the Threat
After reading your story "Theater of War," about the various game plans discussed in the Bush Administration for U.S. attacks on Iraq [Nation, Aug. 12], I must say that I side with Secretary of State Colin Powell's camp. I think we should contain Saddam Hussein and use diplomacy to effect change, not resort to military force. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's hard-line camp carries aggressiveness too far. George W. Bush is willing to sacrifice the lives of Americans and others to do what his father had not achieved by the end of the Gulf War: the elimination of Saddam. GAIL A. FORD Southbury, Conn.
I was shocked that you used the term jihadist to describe Rumsfeld's more hawkish camp while using pragmatic for Powell's State Department team. This biased use of language implies that one group is filled with fanatics bent on war at all costs while the other is levelheaded and reasonable. MICHAEL W. CAREW Waltham, Mass.
A Different Saudi Arabia
I had hoped to learn something from your report on the Saudis [World, Aug. 5], but I found it long on opinion and short on fact. If Saudi fundamentalist clerics "agitate the masses," that is surely their democratic right. Doesn't George W. Bush do the same? The attempt to criticize the Saudis misfires completely; instead, one comes away with the belief that the U.S. is a state that values its allies only insofar as they provide military or commercial advantage. COLIN V. SMITH St. Helens, England
You said that we Saudi Arabians are anti-American. It's true that although the U.S. is the No. 1 exporter to Saudi Arabia, we still oppose U.S. foreign policy, especially in the Middle East. You also associated Saudis' feelings with what you called Wahhabism. The fact is, similar anti-American feelings are also found elsewhere in the Arab world and indeed throughout most of the Middle East. SALAH ALI Riyadh
The Boss Is Back
Bruce Springsteen has been able to define an emotion abstractly and concretely [Music, Aug. 5]. His new CD The Rising is full of hope but at the same time provides a jolt of post-Sept. 11 reality. The abstract quality of the songs is effective because it allows me to create my own perceptions about the lyrics. DAVID YOKEN Turku, Finland