COLIN POWELL: AN AMERICAN JOURNEY

"It is a thrill to hear a potential presidential candidate speak from the heart, and not from the far right or left." CHRISTOPHER W. BRADLEY North Yarmouth, Maine COLIN POWELL'S BOOK DISCUSSES WHAT is wrong with the U.S. [COVER STORIES, Sept. 18]. I have felt disappointed by our nation's leaders for longer than I care to remember. What's happened to our America? Nothing would please me more than to see General Powell elected President. What he could do for this country's self-esteem would be marvelous. I was recalled to active duty for Desert Storm and served eight months overseas. I never questioned Powell's leadership or decision making then, and I don't now. Those of us who have been in the service realize that even when the uniform has been put away, the service doesn't stop. BRADLEY J. LOWRAN Berkley, Michigan AOL: BJLCJL

WHY ARE THE MEDIA SHOVING POWELL down the throats of Americans? There has been no perceptible popular demand for him to run for President. If it hadn't been for the Gulf War, the public at large would never have heard of him. Is the press promoting him just because he is black or because he's one of the few blacks in the public eye about whom no scandal or wrongdoing has been reported? With the exception of Washington and Eisenhower, generals have made notoriously poor Presidents. EDWARD J. FLICKINGER LaGrange Park, Illinois

POWELL FOR PRESIDENT? HELL, YES! HE would be the first candidate to understand that neither the Democrats nor the Republicans speak for the majority of Americans, and the first to understand that many believe in a moderate, sensible balance of government involvement in our life. Powell is a breath of fresh air to the majority of voting Americans, who distrust and dislike the current crop of elected officials in Washington. BOB FALCONE Colorado Springs AOL: BoBFireman

THE MOST IMPORTANT CHARACTERISTICS in a leader are decisiveness and experience. These are even more significant in a presidential candidate. Colin Powell has neither. Powell for a third-party presidential candidate? No, no, no! CHARLES GREENE Palm Springs, California

HERE IS THE ONE MAN WHO CAN CUT through all the political nonsense and lead America in the right direction. Powell in 1996! CHRIS DIFUSCO Carlisle, Pennsylvania Via E-mail

AS A MILITARY LEADER, POWELL HAS MY utmost respect, and as a book author, he already has my money. But as a candidate, he would have a tough time finding a vote here. Powell's positions on issues are pure politics. Although Powell is talented, a person doesn't get to be Chairman of the Joint Chiefs unless he is a political animal, and his years as a Washington insider are not what the country needs. If Powell intends to follow in the footsteps of another general, let's hope it is MacArthur, not Ike, and that Powell quietly fades away. MIKE HAMMITT Perris, California Via E-mail

IDON'T CARE WHETHER POWELL IS A Republican, Democrat or independent. I don't agree with anyone on 100% of the issues, but I do think the U.S. needs a reasonable, clear-thinking person to eliminate the contentious, nasty attitudes found in Washington today. Powell has got my vote. I also liked Ike. DONALD P. SMITH Mesa, Arizona

MAN OF THE HOUR! COLIN POWELL. PRESIDENT to be or not to be? A black man in the White House. The time has come. GUNVER BUTLER La Crescenta, California

I THINK A COLIN POWELL-BOB DOLE ticket would be almost unbeatable. The big problem will be persuading Dole to take the vice-presidential slot. WILLIAM C. BIGGS Amarillo, Texas Via E-mail

NO MATTER WHICH DIRECTION GENERAL Powell travels in his search for his next assignment, he has shown that every American can succeed through hard work, dedication and the desire to do so. Powell is an example of what strong family values can mean to a child's character and how these values can carry over to the adult world. We are never too old to find someone who can be an inspiration for continuing to accept the challenges that life throws our way. Thank you, General Powell, for adding light to the dimly lighted road. GREGORY T. DAVIS San Antonio, Texas AOL: Gregory7TD

AMERICANS ARE SICK AND TIRED OF THE partisan babble that emanates from Washington. While politics is the art of compromise, the starting points don't have to be so far apart and so ideologically driven. A truly moderate, middle-of-the-road candidate from either party would most likely be a landslide victor. Colin Powell may just be that candidate. KEN BLAIR O'Fallon, Illinois AOL: KBlair2258

POWELL'S OWN WORDS REFLECT AN ingrained sense of morality, veracity and purpose. His call for the re-establishment of a sense of values and a clear direction in foreign policy suggests the leadership this country needs. He offers our youth a model of decency and honor that is sorely needed. Powell is correct that "the time may be right for a third major party to emerge to represent" those of us in the ''sensible center" who do not have an identifiable spokesperson. His refusal to pander to the far right or embrace leftist idealism is refreshing. It could propel him to the presidency. I hope he finds the will to run. JIM ZUPANCIC Lake Oswego, Oregon

A TRAGEDY FOR NATIVE AMERICANS

THE REPORT "BURY MY HEART IN COMMITTEE," on proposed cuts in federal funding for Native American services, brought tears to my eyes [SOCIETY, Sept. 18]. Where is our compassion? Forget the government; it obviously doesn't care. What are we Americans doing? Why isn't anyone out there offering the time or a few dollars to fix deteriorating housing and help build shelter for these Native Americans? I myself am guilty. May we all be more compassionate. CHIARA SHAH Hoboken, New Jersey

YOUR PICTURE OF NATIVE AMERICAN children living in a hovel on a Sioux reservation in South Dakota is heartrending. These poor children are forced to live like pigs. It is one thing to live in mean circumstances, but it is another to be denied a modicum of cleanliness. My dog can never be anything but the dog he is, but a human can be whatever he or she wants to be. Native Americans bear the burden of having been dependent for more than 100 years. Those who are reluctant to overhaul the welfare system need only look at what it has done to Native Americans. All welfare recipients will be in the same situation if we do not end this system. BILL O'BRIEN Poway, California

I AM A HIGH SCHOOL SENIOR, AND SPENT three weeks working on Standing Rock Reservation in South Dakota two summers ago. The Native American people are so completely dependent on our government that if we take away their rightful funding we might as well shut them out of this country. They have a right to preserve their heritage, receive a proper education, live in a sanitary home and have roads and proper water and sewerage systems. The U.S. will be committing genocide if it reduces funding. It makes me sick to think that members of our government are responsible for these spending cuts. It is a wonder they are able to sleep at night. ALISON ROOT Port Washington, New York

JUST LOOK AT THE FILTH SHOWN IN THE photographs of Native Americans. No amount of aid can substitute for what people should do for themselves. Assistance just encourages them to do less; they think that those who have aided them in the past will do even more in the future. The true way to help Michael Little Boy Sr. and his family is to send him a copy of Colin Powell's book, which is testimony to how a man from a challenged background can reach the top. Powell's parents had pride in themselves, their children and their home, which is a lot more than Little Boy can say, as shown by the squalor he tolerates, a behavior his children will emulate. IRVIN S. NAYLOR York, Pennsylvania

IT AMAZES ME THAT AMERICANS HAVE become so hardened that we value national parks and cultural institutions over people. The American Indian was the first one here, yet he receives last consideration from Senator Slade Gorton's appropriations subcommittee overseeing the Interior Department funding. While cultural institutions are important, they cannot possibly take precedence over the very existence of human beings. JOYCE HERTZSKE Whitehall, Pennsylvania

AS SOMEONE WHO HAS TRAVELED TO scores of American Indian reservations, I can speak firsthand about the damage the U.S. government has done to Native Americans, their culture, their traditions and, in some cases, their self-esteem. And now Congress is about to stab them in the back again. It will come as no surprise to them. Throughout the years, the U.S. government has broken promises and reneged on one treaty after another. Senator Gorton's assertion that as budget cuts take place, Native Americans must sacrifice like other Americans is akin to Hitler's telling the Jews in Auschwitz that although conditions there were bad, things in Berlin were not so good either. The American Indians in our country need to rise up to oppose this betrayal. Shame on Senator Gorton, and shame on the U.S. government. JAMES MILLS Hanover, New Hampshire

STOLEN KISSES

SENATOR BOB PACKWOOD IS A PRIME example of corruption, deviant sexual conduct and abuse of power. His forced resignation from the Senate on ethical charges should not have taken so long [THE SENATE, Sept. 18]. Packwood no more deserves the rewards of being an ex-Senator than his victims deserved to be accosted by him. LAURIE JANAK MAREK Shiner, Texas

PACKWOOD SAID, "I AM ACCUSED OF KISSING women. Not drugging, not robbing. Kissing." Does he think that unwanted sexual advances are not criminal offenses? Does he think, "O.K., I tried, I was turned down. No big deal"? As a woman who has been approached in a manner similar to Packwood's, I can say it's degrading and shocking. The fact that Packwood was allowed to resign and keep his $88,922 pension, rather than be expelled from the Senate, is insane. In most business environments, the offender would be fired without pension or severance, and possibly face criminal charges. For Packwood, his so-called punishment is merely a slap on the wrist; for the women he harassed, and other victims of sexual harassment, it is a slap in the face. DOROTHY BELLONI West Springfield, New Hampshire Via E-mail

REMEMBER THE ADVICE "SAY IT WITH candy, say it with drink, but never, never say it with ink''? It appears that Senator Packwood pulled more than one major oops with his taped and transcribed diary. His lecherous musings got him into trouble, and his transcribed discussions with Senator Phil Gramm about political funding may have both him and Gramm in hot water. This matter deserves the most stringent Senate investigation and open hearings. ALEXANDER D. BELL Dallas

WHEN PACKWOOD ANNOUNCED HIS RESIGNATION from the Senate, he listed his reasons for doing so: duty, honor, country. He seems to have forgotten one more motivation: his pension. WALTER WARNER State College, Pennsylvania

I HAVE COME TO THE CONCLUSION THAT all this Oregon rain makes our brains rust. Packwood and Tonya Harding can't be a coincidence. DIZ GREER Corvallis, Oregon

COMING TOGETHER IN BEIJING

I AM INCLINED TO THINK THAT THE PARTICIPANTS in the Fourth World Conference on Women held in Beijing deserved the harassment they got [WOMEN'S RIGHTS, Sept. 18]. They should have protested from the beginning that the meeting had been located in a country with a government so disgraced that nothing shames it anymore. The whole event has been an insult to womanhood, a parody of a conference. The joke was played by Beijing dictators but permitted by those who attended. Everybody seemed to cajole the Chinese bully, hoping he would stomp on heads more gently. The intimidator did just the opposite. Are we waiting until the Chinese bully grows so big that nobody is able to constrain him? JOANNA YU Surrey, British Columbia

IF THIS IS WHAT THE CHINESE CONSIDER hospitality, how far will they go before they consider it oppression? WILLIAM D. STEELMAN San Diego

IT WAS A GREAT COUP FOR CHINA TO BE host of the women's conference. But the Chinese should have sought even greater credit. They should have refrained from ugly harassment and close surveillance of the participants and not restricted their speech and movement. In the future the U.N. should fully guarantee such basic rights in a host country before it is chosen as a conference site. TENZIN YANGDAK Mont Pelerin, Switzerland

IT WAS ENCOURAGING TO SEE WOMEN OF modest origins speak out at the conference. However, I could not tolerate the arrogance with which Hillary Clinton took to the podium to express her opinions on social justice and freedom. UGO DEBIASI Ladysmith, British Columbia

I FELT GREAT PRIDE IN SEEING AMERICA'S First Lady, Hillary Clinton, speak to that huge gathering in China. I was proud to be a woman in 1995 and to have such a fine spokeswoman for all women, especially American women. JANET GOULD CHILDRETH Hillsboro, Oregon

TOO FEW FEMALE-FRIENDLY SPOTS

BARBARA EHRENREICH, IN "FOR WOMEN, China Is All Too Typical'' [ESSAY, Sept. 18], complained that the position of women is bad all over the world, including in the U.S., and that there are "precious few female-friendly spots" where the women's conference could have been held. Instead of criticizing, wouldn't it be better if American feminists found it in their hearts to work for harmony between the two sexes? Then people like me might feel more sympathy when feminists complain about the lot of women in those countries where their treatment is genuinely bad. ROHIT PARIKH New York City

BRAVO! FINALLY A VOICE OF REASON. Women: mothers, toys, slaves, punching bags. What a sad story. ROBERT A.M. COPPENRATH Guttenberg, New Jersey

EHRENREICH'S ESSAY SHOULD HAVE BEEN titled "Stop the World! I Want to Get Off.'' Apparently she can find no place on it fit for women. WESLEY C. HARALDSON Cascade, Montana

WITH THE EXCEPTION OF HER VIEWS ON abortion, Ehrenreich quite nicely shares many of the same values as her enemies, the "religious conservatives.'' In America at least, her views on wife abuse, sexual harassment in the workplace, trafficking in sex slaves, the demeaning of a woman's worth and discrimination against women are no different from what is preached in thousands of conservative Christian churches every Sunday morning. If there are differences, perhaps it is in the way we fight. We conservative Christians battle on the individual level, trying to get people to change. Ehrenreich fights on the political level, trying to force people to change. We conservative Christians have been struggling for the past 2,000 years and have a lot of experience combating the injustices of this world. We really aren't Ehrenreich's enemies, after all. STEVE DRESSELHAUS La Paz, Mexico

AN OLD-FASHIONED FAIRY TALE

GET REAL--OR RATHER, GET UNREAL. TO Wong Foo Thanks for Everything Julie Newmar is a movie [CINEMA, Sept. 18]. Remember what that means? Fantasy. Make-believe. Fairy tale. A genre that is not always designed to inspire moral judgments or politically conscious statements. It aims to entertain, which To Wong Foo does delightfully. What if the story line is predictable? Name a fairy-tale fantasy in which it isn't. What if three drag queens drive into a small, dreary heartland town and add style, brighten lives and create miracles? We believe because we want to think miracles can still happen. Save yourself from passing judgment. Let audiences go see a film, laugh and enjoy a good old-fashioned fairy tale for a change. JERRY AYERS Waxahachie, Texas

FALLOUT IN PARADISE

THE REAL DANGER LIES NOT IN TESTS LIKE France's in the South Pacific [WEAPONS, Sept. 18] but in the full-scale use of warheads, scattered around the globe in many places and poorly controlled, that could be allowed to fall into the wrong hands. Also more dangerous than bomb testing are the ethnic and religious wars, like the one raging in the Balkans. Such wars have claimed many more lives than Hiroshima or Nagasaki. We need not only a nuclear-free world but a world free of civilian atomic garbage. And above all, we need a world free of poor leadership. It has been said, if we seriously want to disarm, we must first disarm the spirit. ROGER FERDINAND LOUIS FAURE Sao Paulo, Brazil

FRANCE, A HIGHLY DEVELOPED NATION with a great heritage and a unique culture, has deliberately inflicted severe damage on the earth and its inhabitants by carrying out another nuclear test. Why? In the past, numerous tests were performed by various nations because people didn't know better, and politicians, in their anxiety to be part of the nuclear club, didn't care. Today people do know better, and politicians should care. A nation that wants to be respected by others around the globe can no longer undertake nuclear tests. How would the French feel if the explosions took place off the Atlantic coast of France? SIEGFRIED MAIERSEN Sachsenheim, Germany

THE FUTURE WILL PROVE THAT FRANCE was right in conducting its nuclear tests. A lot of people agree with President Jacques Chirac and respect his decision to carry out the test, despite the hysteria that Greenpeace and others are trying to spread everywhere. Don't imagine that the French people are against the nuclear testing. Did you see 1 million French in the streets of Paris demanding the cessation of the nuclear tests in French Polynesia? No, you did not, and you will not, for the truth is that we agree with the decision of our President. NICOLAS NOLF Grenoble, France

I WOULD ASK CHIRAC, "EXACTLY FOR whom does France need a nuclear deterrent?" Surely, the problems of rampant terrorism and growing public distaste for your political hubris cannot be affected by such tactics. The world does not need a Western Vladimir Zhirinovsky. MICHAEL ZUCKER Tel Aviv Via E-mail

WHILE FRANCE IS TAKING ALL THE BLAME and is the focus of protests for raising nuclear fears, China has kept on performing underground A-bomb tests, and does not get even one-tenth the media attention the French experiments do. Why are the Greenpeace activists always ready to move forward and promote all kinds of demonstrations when the event involves a Western corporation or government, particularly the French? And why do they keep a low profile or even a significative silence when similar actions are performed by a socialist nation like China? Come on, guys, if you really mean no nukes, then make it no nukes at all, not just no French nukes. ENRIQUE VAZQUEZ Madrid Via E-mail

I WONDER IF THE FRENCH SHOULDN'T just be left to their own devices. After all, the Mururoa area appears seismically stable, and the explosion is deep enough to guarantee safety. Will long-term radiation leaks result? Whatever is strong enough to bring radiation to the surface is surely cataclysmic enough to make it superfluous! MATHEW CLARK Roodepoort, South Africa

I DISAGREE WITH CHIRAC'S POLICIES IN general and in particular with the carrying out of nuclear tests in French Polynesia. Nevertheless, I ask myself why Australia and New Zealand have not said a word about the Chinese nuclear tests that have continued to take place. Why don't they protest against the nuclear power plants still working in the former U.S.S.R.? Have the Australians forgotten that their country sells uranium to France? Chirac's government has decided to conduct the tests because of the French nuclear lobby, which represents companies that give thousands of people their jobs. FABRICE LEVEQUE Fresnoy le Luat, France

MODERN-DAY BOMBS ARE MANY TIMES as powerful as the Hiroshima bomb, and the consequences of their use are even more horrific. What else do French scientists need to know? PETER KIDDS Workingham, England

FRANCE A NUCLEAR POWER? THIS MAY BE feasible, there may be credence to it, but to what avail? These tests have been carried out in total disregard for the environment and the hazards posed to the ecosystem. What's more, the impounding of Greenpeace vessels by the French defies international convention. ALNASHIR D. WALJI Nairobi

MANY PEOPLE AROUND THE WORLD HAVE condemned France's resumption of nuclear tests. How many of them are ready not to drink French wine or eat French cheese? Will they not drive French cars or visit Paris? If they do boycott France and French products, then their condemnation is valid. FREDDY GARCIA-ROSELL Lima

SAVING SIBERIA WITH CAPITALISM

AS A FULBRIGHT SCHOLAR IN ARCTIC AND environmental studies and a participant in an exchange with the Russian Academy of Sciences, I focused on the ecological impact associated with development of the Russian north, including Siberia [COVER STORY, Sept. 4]. I welcome your efforts to publicize what is indeed an environmental crisis of international concern in that region. However, your essential question "Can Siberia be saved by capitalism?'' was inadequately answered. You published a photograph of a devastating clear-cutting of timber resulting from a Russian joint venture with Hyundai, yet nowhere is the nature of that tragic deal covered in the article. We need the full story to learn from the mistakes made by Hyundai and others if capitalism is to become part of the solution to Russia's problems. BRUCE C. FORBES Rovaniemi, Finland Via E-mail

BRINGING THE SERBS TO HEEL

RUSSIA'S PACIFIST ATTITUDE TOWARD Bosnia is ironic [COVER STORIES, Sept. 11]. Nine months ago, President Boris Yeltsin mutilated the city of Grozny and reduced it to rubble with artillery, ground troops and air strikes. In fact, Russian leaders repudiated any proposals for negotiations by the Chechen side and dismissed reports of human-rights violations and appalling atrocities committed by Russian troops. Now, when circumstances call for genuine action in the Balkans, Russia wants to deter any progress and is calling for peace talks despite massive evidence of the Bosnian Serbs' failure to keep their promises. NITIN UMAPATHI Bangalore, India Via E-mail

WILL NATO INTERVENTION CONVINCE THE Balkans that blood cannot be washed away by blood? JAMES NICHOLAS, International Secretary World Council for Global Co-Operation Toronto

CORRECTION

OUR STORY "MORE TALKING, MORE Bombing" [THE BALKANS, Sept. 18] included a photograph of an airplane we described as an F-14 Tomcat. The plane was actually an F/A-18 Hornet.