Letters

DIABETES: ARE YOU AT RISK?

I congratulate you for the clarity of your report on diabetes [Dec. 8]. For the past 19 years, as a pediatric endocrinologist dealing with children with diabetes, I have watched with amazement the increase in the number of young people with Type 2 diabetes (formerly called adult-onset diabetes), especially in the past 10 to 15 years. This escalation matches the tremendous rise in juvenile obesity. Many cases of Type 2 diabetes could be prevented by schools' reinforcing healthy eating habits and providing lunches (and breakfasts) that are not equivalent to fast food. In addition, foods rich in concentrated sweets or fats should bear warning labels. And finally, we should stop the incessant TV advertising of the most damaging foods during hours of children's programming. MICHELE ZERAH, M.D. Pensacola, Fla.

Hillary Carroll, the girl on your cover, was 10 years old and weighed 220 lbs. before her Type 2 diabetes was diagnosed? Gee, what was her parents' first clue that she had some kind of problem? Long-term studies of diabetes are a nice idea, but let's not overlook the obvious. Most people today, especially children, eat too much and exercise too little. JOHN M. SAXTON JR. Clarksburg, N.J.

Could a contributing factor to childhood obesity and diabetes be the amount of sugar and high-fructose corn syrup consumed? I recently saw a photo of a high school lunch table littered with soda and sports-drink bottles. When I was in school (in the 1970s), the only drink available at lunch was milk. Why don't schools get rid of all the soda, candy and sports-drink vending machines? GREGORY HOYT Reading, Mass.

People predisposed to diabetes would be much better off eating more natural, less-processed foods and should take drugs only as a last resort. I'm referring not just to fast foods but also to the majority of highly processed food staples found on grocery-store shelves. In today's mass-marketed brands there is a great deal of hidden sugar--not to mention unnecessary preservatives and saturated fat--that most people are blind to. Consumers are taken in by glossy packaging and big ad campaigns and buy foods without reading the ingredients. They will be delighted by how good natural foods can taste. KRIS SPENCER Royal Oak, Mich.

If we treated our cars the way we do our bodies, millions of people would be stranded every day. We Americans do little about our health until there is a problem. Then we are suddenly amazed by what has happened to us. I'm surprised that more people do not seek the advice of a nutrition counselor. Is it because that is not covered by health insurance? My car insurance doesn't pay for oil changes, but I still have them done. DEANNE DEAVILLE Sunnyvale, Calif.

Of course there's an epidemic of diabetes. We are getting fat. Why? Because we've got it too easy. We don't have to hunt or gather our food anymore. People are not physically active enough. Even when walking around the mall, they have sodas and fast food in their hands. It's sad to see this terrible and preventable disease run rampant among our youth. There are people around the world starving to death, and here we are eating ourselves to death. GLENYS McNALLY Freeport, N.Y.

SURPRISE! IT'S THE PRESIDENT

By going to Iraq on Thanksgiving Day [Dec. 8], President Bush did what any decent leader should do during wartime: he took a great risk to show his country's soldiers that he was proud of them and grateful for their bravery. Was this trip dangerous? Sure. Unnecessary? No. I would have loved to see the G.I.s' faces firsthand when Bush entered the room. I'm proud of the President for going forward with his heart, as he always has. I can only pray that despite the constant media bashing, he can continue to show everyone he's not afraid to do the right thing. LAURA WAGNER Pickerington, Ohio

The White House claims that the President went to Iraq to boost the morale of the troops, but he was in Baghdad for only 2 1/2 hours, and fewer than 600 troops saw him. Because of the secrecy, thousands of military personnel in the area didn't even know he was there. So how was their morale helped? Let's call the trip what it was: political grandstanding. FORREST G. WOOD Bakersfield, Calif.

That President Bush has politicized the Iraq war is not novel. The chief executive of any state waging a war depends on the political will of the people to support that war until its conclusion. The campaign to sustain the public's political will includes appeals to patriotism, freedom, democracy and sacrifice and is a recurring theme in American history. Abraham Lincoln constantly worried about those who criticized the Civil War for its enormous loss of life and its aim of ending slavery to save the Union. And while World War II raged in Europe, F.D.R. had to defend his Lend-Lease program against isolationists in Congress. Only time will tell whether the Iraq war is worth the cost. WALTER LEE Orange, Calif.

If the war had truly been for the liberation of the Iraqi people, as Bush claimed, he would have been enthusiastically welcomed by cheering multitudes of Iraqis in broad daylight. Instead the President had to sneak into and out of Baghdad in the dark. Pathetic. ANDY MAHLER Paoli, Ind.

MOURNING IN AMERICA

In "Why Bush Stays Away," Charles Krauthammer defended President Bush's policy of not attending the funerals of soldiers killed in Iraq [Dec. 8]. Of course, it is not feasible for Bush to go to every funeral, but have either Krauthammer or Bush considered President Lincoln's Gettysburg Address? It was given on Nov. 18, 1863, in the middle of the Civil War. Lincoln eloquently honored the fallen soldiers without suggesting any weakness. His words of compassion and hope were not written by a professional speechwriter. Is it too much to expect that Bush will emulate Lincoln's humble example and honor the dead without waiting until the war is over? HAROLD RICHARD PIEHLER Lawrence, Kans.

Krauthammer's Commentary was well balanced and intelligent. Soldiers are fighting men and women. Victory or defeat and death are part and parcel of being a military person. I am sure every patriotic American feels the pain when news reaches us that yet another soldier has been killed in the line of duty. But freedom and preservation of our way of life come at a price. ADI DAMANIA Woodland, Calif.

As soon as presidential strategist Karl Rove realizes the damage caused the President by his absence from memorial services, a funeral will be found somewhere for Bush to attend. LANCE COLLINS Sugar Land, Texas

Rather than being seen as a sign of weakness, might not a President's public acknowledgment of those who died in battle inspire the nation and reassure us that the White House has not lost touch with the reality of the loss of life? TERESA BROOKS New York City

CREATING NEW ENEMIES

Your article "Losing Hearts And Minds" showed that Iraqis have deep grievances against the U.S. [Dec. 8]. Bush's policies have turned Iraqis, Muslims and others who were once only moderately opposed to the U.S. into an ever growing pool of dedicated enemies. It is hard to imagine that groups promising eternal glory to suicide bombers would greet U.S. troops as saviors, but evidently many of the Administration's policymakers believed this is what would happen in Iraq. STEVE ZOLOTOW Las Vegas

The Bush Administration must realize that anti-American sentiment will only increase as long as thousands of suspected terrorists are detained, innocent civilians are killed and Iraq's economy is at a standstill. Although a premature departure from Iraq would clearly be a mistake, prolonging the occupation will only cause conditions there to deteriorate. It is ironic that human rights and terrorism, two of Bush's strongest arguments for regime change in Iraq, have worsened or improved only slightly since the U.S. invaded. JONATHAN N. NICHOLS Middlebury, Vt.

You reported that U.S. soldiers flattened the house and apricot trees of Laith Klabos and his family, near Tikrit. The photo of him standing in the ruins of his demolished home reminded me of pictures showing the treatment of Palestinians by the Israeli army. Are we following these tactics? STEVE C. KEMIJI Sacramento, Calif.

GOING FOR BROKE

There are at least two ways to explain the Bush Administration's attitude toward our ballooning federal budget deficit. Perhaps the President doesn't care and is willing for the country to suffer huge deficits as long as he gets what he wants--re-election and selective tax advantages. Or maybe he is operating with inadequate knowledge. The President has said he doesn't read newspapers, so his access to information must be limited. In preparing for the war in Iraq, the Bush team purposefully ignored any views that conflicted with its own. In discussing the federal deficit, does President Bush ever sit down face to face with strong proponents of fiscal restraint? Or is this President isolated? STANLEY GOODMAN Wyckoff, N.J.

Having lived through the horrors of the Great Depression of the 1930s, I am distressed to see the Administration sowing the seeds for another one with reckless policies. Most people who will vote in next year's election did not experience the Depression, but let us hope they will have the wisdom to elect officials who will return fiscal sanity to Washington. Depressions don't discriminate between Republicans and Democrats. RALPH CRAIG Amherst, Mass.

AERIAL ADVENTURES

You reported on the centennial of the Wright brothers' first flights at Kitty Hawk, N.C. [Dec. 8]. The Wright brothers revolutionized not only flight but human ambition as well. For ages, people had pondered the skies and attempted to fly. The Wright brothers questioned what was known about the physics of flight and rethought the requirements for a flying machine. In doing so, they achieved success where many others had failed. It was an amazing undertaking. Sixty-six years after their innovative 12-sec. flight, man walked on the moon. Imagine what advances in current technology may yield for the future! PAUL A. JERECZEK Dodge, Wis.