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James Hill's picture of a dead Iraqi soldier lying on the ground as a U.S. troop convoy passed by was in your selection of the year's best photos. While that photo conveys the horrific reality of the war, it is unbelievable that TIME would publish a picture of a dead Iraqi soldier and not also show dead American soldiers. Are Iraqis any less human than Americans? I wish the U.S. media, especially TIME, would show the same respect for all human beings and not run any photos of dead soldiers. KATHERINE J. HARRISON Silver Spring, Md.
The Tactical Memo
In "How To Lose Friends And Alienate People" [Dec. 22], Michael Elliott wrote about Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz's memo stipulating that only firms from coalition-force countries can win prime contracts to rebuild Iraq's infrastructure. By having Wolfowitz sign and release this memo, President Bush was ensuring the continued loyalty of those in the Republican Party who subscribe to a unilateralist foreign policy. Having secured this support, Bush can now occupy the middle ground. The political nuances at play here are highly sophisticated. The President is always discounted as a political neophyte, but in truth he is extremely clever. ANDREAS STAVROPOULOS Scarborough, Ont.
Elliott was wrong in arguing that Wolfowitz's memo would cause a diplomatic row just before presidential envoy James Baker III visited Europe on a mission to reduce Iraq's debt to other countries. The memo was clearly a hardball negotiating tactic. Faced with this threat, France and Germany finally relented and agreed to forgive some of Iraq's debt. In the end, the U.S. will reconsider the policy on contracts in Iraq. Apparently, Elliott knows nothing of real-world negotiations. MORGAN CONRAD Montara, Calif.
The countries that are being permitted to participate in the bids for contracts in Iraq suffered right alongside the U.S., whether through offering the lives of their soldiers or millions from their treasuries, or by simply withstanding public ridicule for supporting the cause of freedom in Iraq. The message to those countries that did not is simple: You cannot oppose us and then expect to reap the rewards of our sacrifice. JAY DAVID TURNER San Diego
The New-New Democrats
Joe Klein's column on how Al Gore's endorsement of Howard Dean's candidacy is changing the Democratic Party [Dec. 22] comes down to this: Dean and Gore are angry and hate George W. Bush. Personally. Is that a winning campaign strategy? Perhaps within the Democratic Party, but is it a strategy for winning the U.S. presidency? Highly unlikely. Hoping that things go badly in the economy and in Iraq is not a philosophy the American people will latch on to. JIM SLEMAKER Los Angeles
Klein missed the obvious implication of Gore's endorsement of Dean: Gore expects Dean to lose big and is positioning himself to lay claim to Dean's followers for the 2008 election. YALE ZUSSMAN Weymouth, Mass.
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