Letters

Rethinking U.S. Foreign Policy

In the darkest days of the Iraq war, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is on a mission to restore order. Can she possibly bring peace to Iraq and mediate the Israeli-Palestinian conflict without admitting the Administration's mistakes? Readers fear it may already be too late to change course

Your cover story on the Bush Administration's efforts to salvage its foreign policy [Feb. 12] provoked musings on what-if scenarios. What if the Bush Administration dealt with the world as it really was, not as the Administration wanted it to be? We would not be in the position we are in today. Tens of thousands of people have been killed in a raging civil war, the international goodwill following 9/11 has been wasted, and we have a huge deficit and a military that is being ground down. Even if this Administration could push a replay button, the result would be like the movie Groundhog Day--an endless repeat of the same mistakes.

JACK PLUMMER

Franktown, Colo.

Is it time for Condoleezza Rice to go? Since assuming the post of Secretary of State, she has had very few successes. It would appear that diplomacy is not her strong suit. The fault might lie in the arrogant and uncompromising attitude of her bosses, but her performance has been dismal and disappointing. Much of her time and energy has been diverted to defending the strategies and policies of the Bush Administration. One wonders whether a more independent-thinking Secretary of State would better serve the country.

GERALD SCHWARTZ

Amberley Village, Ohio

Think of the administration's responses to Iraq, Iran, Hurricane Katrina and global warming. Back to reality? When did this team pay its first visit?

BLAKE FOSTER

Poughkeepsie, N.Y.

The opportunity may have passed for Rice to redeem herself by revising U.S. foreign policy. The strategy in Iraq has already reached the point of no return, with irretrievable losses. What can Rice do in the next two years? Her only salvation might be to finalize a peace treaty between Israel and the Palestinians.

NAKE M. KAMRANY

Pacific Palisades, Calif.

Sending Rice to salvage the ruin that is American foreign policy is much like sending Jack the Ripper to conduct the autopsy of his victims. Rice is complicit in creating the policies that have reduced our standing in the world to that of a bullying and ignorant monolith blinded by its own elevated sense of importance. Like President George W. Bush, Secretary Rice needs to admit numerous mistakes before she can hope to shape the government of other nations.

BILL WAXMAN

Simi Valley, Calif.

Eventually we will have to explain 9/11 to a new generation, just as the greatest generation had to explain Pearl Harbor to my baby-boomer generation. What will we offer as an excuse for the mess we have created? That we envied the greatest generation's World War II glory and felt cheated that Vietnam was all we got? As it has turned out, the Iraq war isn't our World War II, nor is it another Vietnam. It is our World War I: a frivolous, costly, arrogant war that has set off an economic disaster, bred not just one maniac bent on genocide but a million and ended in a standstill that has merely set the stage for the next world war.

PEGGY WILLIAMS

Mineral Ridge, Ohio

At a speech in Egypt, Rice famously said, "For 60 years, my country, the United States, pursued stability at the expense of democracy in this region ... and we achieved neither." Unfortunately, the epitaph for her work in this Administration will be a perverse twist on that logic: since 9/11, our country has pursued democracy at the expense of stability--and we lost both.

STEPHEN E. PHILLIPS

New York City

Hotheaded Democrats?

In his Viewpoint "How the Democrats Have Lost Their Cool" [Feb. 12], William Kristol questioned why Democrats feel frustrated with Bush's decision to escalate the war in Iraq. I would respectfully remind Kristol that the frustration in the air today is held by a solid majority of Americans, not just Democrats. Frustration is mounting because the President has decided to stick with what is primarily a military solution. The diplomacy recommended by the Iraq Study Group has been rejected by President Bush. Perhaps most startling, the neoconservative architects of the foreign policy failures of the past six years still influence the President's thinking. Yet I would not expect Kristol to touch upon any of these points, since he is in the vanguard of the neoconservatives.

STEVEN R. SCHELS

Hamburg, N.J.

Kristol lost sight of the big picture. He wrote that Bush "crossed up Democrats" by replacing Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and rejecting the Iraq Study Group's strategy. The political maneuver might be nice sport, but Kristol failed to point out that Bush continues to lose the only battle that counts--the one in Iraq.

SANFORD RUBIN

Rochester, N.Y.

Kristol accused the Democrats of hoping this war fails so that Bush and the Republicans look bad. That is spin at its worst. Kristol also tried to perpetuate the tired notion that it's important to sustain this war as part of a larger war on terrorism. But we will not condone this lie of an occupation anymore.

PAM BERGREN

Hartford, Conn.

Kristol's implication that Democrats "have lost their cool" because they are turning away from moderation is a bit silly. Turning away from moderation is exactly how Republicans have won elections for 12 years.

ETHAN ALLEN SMITH

Coeur d'Alene, Idaho

Scooter's Secrets

I agree with Michael Kinsley that we need a strong free press and leaks to keep government honest [Feb. 12]. But he also argues that leaks are so central to democracy that it's O.K. to commit them even if one violates the law. I am an immigrant from a Third World country, and one thing I really appreciate about the U.S. is the ideal that nobody is above the law. The rule of law is a prerequisite for a civilized society and more central to democracy than leaks are.

JAY DE LOS REYES

Alameda, Calif.

Outing an undercover CIA officer to help one's boss should not be protected by the First Amendment. It would be a travesty of the concept of a free press. False leaks are simply lies. The manipulation of the press has been a common tool of this Administration.

MARTIN SANTRY

West Cape May, N.J.

The left hates Bush so much that it salivates at any hint of misdeed, whether warranted or not. There are plenty of reasons to criticize the Bush Administration, but special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald is wasting hundreds of thousands of tax dollars on a case he made up because I. Lewis (Scooter) Libby cannot remember exactly how conversations went three years ago. I would be in real trouble if I were in Libby's spot, since I can't remember what I said last week.

PAT SCHMITT

High Point, N.C.

Hands Off the Osteopaths

I am deeply disappointed that Scott Haig, M.D., referred to osteopathic physicians (D.O.s) as "osteopathic manipulators" and lumped osteopathy in with what he calls "nothing-really-works-anyway-therapies" [Feb. 12]. D.O.s are physicians who receive extra training to examine and treat patients using a technique called osteopathic manipulative treatment. They also deliver babies, perform brain surgery and serve as family physicians to the underserved. D.O.s have been advocating solutions to issues such as Medicare physician-reimbursement cuts and medical-liability-insurance increases. Haig has done a disservice to 59,000 D.O.s in the U.S., including the former physician to President George H.W. Bush, the former U.S. Army surgeon general and physicians for professional sports teams.

JOHN A. STROSNIDER, D.O., PRESIDENT

AMERICAN OSTEOPATHIC ASSOCIATION

Chicago

The Human Swarm

As the debate on carbon emissions and climate change heats up [Jan. 29], I am amazed that a lot of discussions ignore overpopulation. We have been breeding like locusts, filling every available space and devouring all available resources. The planet simply cannot sustain such population growth. Tackling this problem raises difficult moral, ethical and sociological issues. But if we ignore it, the consequences for humankind are unimaginable.

DICK KEANE

Dublin