LETTERS

The World According to George Bush

"I admire the way the President stands up for what he believes in and makes tough decisions rather than trying to be Mr. Popular."

JOSEPH ZOLTEK Glenside, Pa.

"INSIDE THE MIND OF GEORGE W. BUSH" [Sept. 6] reaffirmed my admiration for this man. I love that the President is stubborn enough to stick to his guns when it comes to the safety of our country. He's my hero.

TERRI BRADSHAW Grand Prairie, Texas

BUSH'S MAIN PROBLEM IS THAT HE FAILS to think ahead. He invaded Iraq but didn't plan for the aftermath. He offended allies whose help we now need. He started a war without thinking how it would destabilize the world. He cut corners, bypassing the U.N. Being tough cannot make up for a lack of judgment.

ILYA SHLYAKHTER Cambridge, Mass.

BUSH WAS THRUST INTO THE HORROR of 9/11, a situation that any President, Republican or Democrat, would have struggled with. It's very easy three years later to criticize the way Bush handled foreign affairs, but at the time we were a nation that was shocked and scared. Bush is a President in a no-win situation. No matter what he does, people will criticize and see fit to condemn him. He may not be the perfect President. He has made mistakes. But no one else can truthfully say he could have done better than Bush did.

MERRIDITH FREDIANI Milwaukee, Wis.

BUSH DESCRIBES HIMSELF ABOVE ALL AS a man who can make decisions. I doubt that anyone would argue with that. The President's decisions have, however, adhered to neoconservative political principles. The notion that a single political philosophy best serves the needs of a nation is simplistic, arrogant and dangerous. Effective leadership requires the ability to distribute dissatisfaction across all parties. Bush's brand of leadership lacks both discernment and the courage to confront his conservative power base.

ALFRED B. BONDS Nashville, Tenn.

AFTER 9/11 THE U.S. WAS IN A POSITION IN which a decision had to be made. Bush acted as any effective Commander in Chief would have. We Americans have been blessed with security, freedom and our way of life because soldiers and civilians have sacrificed their lives for just causes. In today's global society, to have acted any way other than how we did after the events of 9/11 would have been dangerously naive.

MICHAEL POPPEN Sioux Falls, S.D.

BUSH OUGHT TO REMEMBER THE WORDS of H.L. Mencken: "For every complex problem, there is a solution that is simple, neat and wrong." All of Bush's simple solutions to our country's problems have been, invariably, wrong. I do not want as President an amiable fellow who does not accept that politics is about compromise. I would rather have an effective President whom I despise as a person than a wrongheaded one who is a good fishing buddy.

DAVID P. VERNON Tucson, Ariz.

IN HIS INTERVIEW WITH TIME, BUSH called the U.S. invasion of Iraq a "catastrophic success," which he defined as "being so successful so fast that an enemy that should have surrendered or been done in escaped and lived to fight another day." For those who are unfamiliar with Orwellian Newspeak or doublespeak, catastrophic success translates as failure in plain English.

R. CURTIS HAMILTON Scio Township, Mich.

Debating His Chances

IN HIS VIEWPOINT "THE CASE FOR BUSH" [Sept. 6], Charles Krauthammer argued that after the President's success in Afghanistan and a continued hunt for al-Qaeda, he could have sat back for two years and "coasted to re-election." But what about all those other issues that the Administration would have been forced to address if it hadn't been for the Iraq war? By whipping voters into a prolonged state of fear and anxiety, the President has been able to so effectively mask his abysmal performance on big problems like the economy that apparently even such savvy political essayists as Krauthammer overlook them.

ANISHA MASON San Francisco

BUSH IS DECISIVE AND BOLD, BUT THOSE traits without knowledge, sensitivity (to others and to cultural contexts) and wisdom are dangerous. We don't know yet whether Afghanistan will survive as a free and democratic country. That's still to be determined. We don't know that al-Qaeda is scattered; they are probably just lying low and planning big. Bush's shortsighted decision to invade Iraq fueled anti-Americanism not only in the Middle East but in Western democracies as well. In an ever shrinking world, the attitude of "my way or the highway" won't cut it. Looking at the real reasons behind anti-Americanism and working collaboratively with other countries facing the same threats are the only ways the war on terrorists can ever be won. But Bush doesn't have the knowledge, sensitivity or wisdom to discern that.

BARBARA J. CRAWFORD Jyvskyl, Finland

Broader Questions

THE STATE OF POLITICS IN THE U.S. TODAY is quite worrisome [Sept. 6]. Issues have been jettisoned for personal attacks that could be seen as diversionary. The war on terrorism has dominated everything, pushing aside issues like health care, jobs and education. Defending America is good, but under what circumstances? The question Americans want answered is whether they are better protected now or have been made more vulnerable to attacks. The candidates should address the host of vital issues facing Americans and reject the trivial personal smears.

COLLINS ONUOHA Berlin

IF I WERE AN AMERICAN, I WOULD VOTE for Bush. U.S. citizens should judge a President by evaluating not only what he has done in the past but also how he perceives the future. I admire a President who would oust a notorious dictator--not because voters approved of it but because it was a worthy act that benefits the world. I admire Bush.

CHINEDUM ONWUCHEKWA Nsukka, Nigeria

BUSH IS QUOTED AS SAYING "I'M NOT THE historian. I'm the guy making history." Yes, but what kind of history? Adolf Hitler and Saddam Hussein were also the guys making history. It is amazing and frightening that the head of the U.S. military is intellectually incapable of perceiving some basic distinctions. Those who want to see what kind of history Bush is making should have a look at his unmistakable cowboy posturing.

YEHIA EL-EZABI Cairo

THE PRESIDENT OF THE U.S. MUST BE strong. He is the hope not only of the U.S. but also of the world, and the global community does not need a weak leader.

MICHIO ARAI Yokohama, Japan

YOU REPORTED THAT "BUSH CONSTANTLY cites the example of postwar Germany and Japan to argue that it is far too soon to call Iraq a failure." But it is prewar Germany, in the years 1933-39, that gives many of us a frightening, disheartening parallel: How could a nation of well-educated, civilized, sophisticated people believe the rhetoric of a fanatic leader pretending their lives were threatened by obviously weaker neighbors, and follow him into a disastrous pre-emptive war?

NICOLAS GESSNER Paris

BUSH IS PRAISED FOR BEING BRAVE AND decisive for the actions he took after the attacks of 9/11, but why, when his bravery and snap decisions based on trumped-up evidence have proved disastrously wrong and damaging? Neither the U.S., in its long-term interests, nor the world can afford another four years of Bush and his unilateralism.

MICHAEL KROMBERG Kongsberg, Norway

A New Legitimacy Needed

MARK THATCHER, SON OF FORMER BRITISH Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, has been charged with helping finance a plot to overthrow Teodoro Obiang Nguema, President of oil-rich Equatorial Guinea [Sept. 6]. Nguema's regime is undemocratic, but Thatcher and his wealthy friends did not have any legitimacy to overthrow it. The U.S., however, by deciding unilaterally and without the approval of the U.N. to topple the bloody and dictatorial regime of Saddam, has provided a poor example to the world. What will now stop regional powers--or even individuals--from intervening in neighboring countries? A proper, legal vision of intervention must be reconstructed at once and action taken only when a resolution approved by U.N. members has deemed that intervention is legitimate.

PAUL VAN DER SCHUEREN Paris

The Price of Spurious Ads

JOE KLEIN'S COLUMN "WHAT THE SWIFTIES Have Cost Us" [Sept. 6], on the way political attack ads like those by the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth have stifled real political debate, was refreshing. It is very disheartening that politics has become a constant bashing of opponents instead of focusing on the issues and actually doing something to address them. It's especially discouraging when you consider what good might be done with the funds that are used to wage misdirected political wars.

SCOTT A. FARBER Boston

Prisoner of the Nazis

I WAS STUNNED TO SEE THE TERM "POL-ish labor camp" in the Milestone on the death of Navajo code talker Frank Sanache [Sept. 6]. The Nazis organized and ran the German concentration, labor and POW camps of World War II [including the one in what is now Poland where Sanache was imprisoned]. We need to preserve the truth about atrocities committed by the Nazis instead of creating harmful stereotypes that involve Poland.

PRZEMYSLAW GRUDZINSKI AMBASSADOR OF THE REPUBLIC OF POLAND TO THE U.S. Washington

The Dream Team No More

YOU REPORTED THAT THE U.S. OLYMPIC basketball team was the first "NBA-stocked bunch not to win gold" [Sept. 6]. Next time, let the team that has last won the National Basketball Association title represent the U.S. in international competitions. Can you imagine the pride and the might with which the NBA champion Detroit Pistons would have performed in Athens? But instead of a well-coordinated team that knew how to control the ball and shoot well, we saw a hurriedly assembled group of NBA superstars who could not manage to play in a cohesive manner.

IME DAVID EKPO Phoenix, Ariz.