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SOMEONE IS GOING TO HAVE TO DO A better job than TIME did of explaining how this "fat-mice substance" is "weight-loss Nirvana." As I understand it, after being given this new wonder drug, the mice ate less, exercised more and lost weight. This is not Nirvana. Had the mice eaten more, exercised less and lost weight, then we would have a reason to get off the couch and cheer. H. MITCHELL SCHUMAN New York City
WAR OF THE WORLDS
THE BOMBINGS WERE NOT JUST THE END of a merciless clash of cultures [V-J Day, Aug., 7]. They were also the beginning of a human crisis called the nuclear age, beyond the differences in cultures and nationalities. HISASHI YUKIMOTO Yokosuka, Japan
IF THE A-BOMB HAD NOT BEEN DROPPED, it is quite possible many of the people crying out against it would never have been born. The invasion of Japan would have cost an untold number of lives on both sides. Many of those who died could have been the parents of those now asking that the U.S. apologize for dropping the A-bomb. EDGAR S. SPIZEL La Jolla, California
ON SEPT. 27, 1945, AS AN 18-YEAR-OLD member of the 98th Division, I was among many who made a beach landing close to the city of Wakayama, Japan. From there we were transported by rail to Osaka, where I began a year of Occupation duty. The propriety of the use of the atom bomb to bring about the surrender of the Japanese will be debated endlessly. But one thing is clear: we encountered no resistance as occupiers because the Japanese, a people of great discipline and national pride, responded to the dictates of their Emperor. Had the Emperor asked the Japanese people to resist to the death the invasion of their homeland, they would have done so. And countless numbers on both sides would have died. Perhaps I am alive today because the use of the atom bomb brought the war to a speedy conclusion. CONRAD G. FOLLANSBEE JR. Wayne, Pennsylvania
THE ARGUMENT OVER WHETHER USE OF the atom bombs, as opposed to a full-scale invasion of Japan, actually saved Japanese lives is completely irrelevant. After 3-1/2 years of war, President Truman's duty as Commander in Chief was very clear: to end the war quickly and save as many lives as possible . THOMAS E. TELL JR. Somerville, New Jersey Via America Online
IN THE MIDST OF MEDIA OVERKILL ON the Bomb, your articles stand out as models of evenhandedness. Congratulations on covering both sides of an awful event. JOHN SAFRANSKI Livonia, Michigan AOL: JohnS50718
WHILE THE INNOCENT PEOPLE WHO PERISHED in Hiroshima and Nagasaki have my heartfelt sympathy, I cannot help wondering how different history would be if President Truman had decided not to drop the Bomb. The hundreds of thousands who would then have died could have been Indonesians, Koreans or other Asians killed in a Japanese invasion. Hiroshima and Nagasaki remind us how innocent people become casualties of war-a war they may not want to support. At least the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki helped prevent what could have been the obliteration of humans on an even larger scale. CHANDRA DEWI KUMIA Jakarta, Indonesia