Letters

Europe’s Secret Capitals
I appreciated your reporting on Dubrovnik in the cover story on “Europe’s Secret Capitals,” about some of our appealing smaller cities [Aug. 30]. You could have more explicitly mentioned, however, the Italian influence on Dubrovnik in past centuries, especially on its architecture and even its ancient Italian name: Ragusa.
Roberto Macchia
Livorno, Italy

The head of a nation is the capital; the head of a human body is its capital. When I read about the regeneration, development, changes and specialties of the cities in your stories, I discovered that the people who successfully transformed the unheralded places you described used their heads to combat complacency. What a great way to use the human mind.
Mamora Olusegun Victor Ijebu-Ode, Nigeria

Follow the Money
The ratio of eyewitnesses who support John Kerry’s Vietnam War record to those who do not can only be described as overwhelming. Yet your Notebook report “Kerry in Combat: Setting the Record Straight” [Aug. 30] allowed baseless accusations to be elevated to charges worthy of serious contemplation. Follow the money that subsidizes the calumnies of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth (SBVT). The trail leads to well-bankrolled Republican Party operatives doing what they do best: smearing good people and lying to American voters.
David Federman
Narberth, Pennsylvania, U.S.

Unless liberals can prove that president Bush is directly coordinating the activities of SBVT, it’s unfair to keep complaining about who is behind the ads. Since Bush can’t prove that the lies and distortions of MoveOn.org and Michael Moore emanated from or are coordinated by Kerry’s supporters, the President doesn’t bother whining to Americans.
Peter Guardino
New York City

If the veterans involved in SBVT were either swift or truthful, they would have challenged Kerry’s military medals 35 years ago, when they were awarded.
John DeBoer
Sequim, Washington, U.S.

I am appalled that Americans are listening to the SBVT ads questioning Kerry’s war record. From 1966 to 1969, I was in Japan with my husband, a Navy aviator making flights to Vietnam. I endured that war differently from Kerry, who was on the front lines. I did my part to support our military. Yet I too came back home opposing involvement because the U.S. did not understand the nature of the war and wasn’t willing to do what was necessary to win it. Kerry and I share a similar view: opposition to a war that besmirched American honor and in which we were trapped because no exit had ever been planned. What is more important than the medals Kerry received is that he was in Vietnam voluntarily serving his country. President Bush was not. Now we need a Commander in Chief who personally knows what it is like to fight a war.
Mary S. Jespersen
Bogense, Denmark

For Plain Speaking
Joe Klein’s column on John Kerry’s reluctance to make statements that are controversial or negative, heeding the advice of his political consultants, was right on target [Aug. 30]. Kerry is headed for defeat because he seems to be no more than a politician who test-markets his every utterance, whereas President Bush, love him or hate him, comes across as a man who means what he says and doesn’t stick his finger in the air checking to see which way the wind is blowing before he speaks.
Nicky Billou
Toronto

Klein’s argument that Kerry must campaign more aggressively against Bush’s policies was dead on. Bush’s litany of mistakes can be defined in common terms by every kindergartner in America, yet Kerry can’t bring himself to call a spade a spade. Kerry has to tell us exactly what Bush has done wrong and how Kerry will do it right.
Tom Meneely
Arco, Minnesota, U.S.

What Iraqis Want
In Michael Ware’s report on fighting in a rebel stronghold in the heart of Baghdad [Aug. 30], he described the insurgents as “bearing the mark of professional soldiers and sophisticated terrorist groups.” Captain Thomas Foley, the American commander on the scene, said, “I don’t know who it is. I really don’t know what they want.” What would Foley want if the circumstances were reversed? We have bombed the cities of the Iraqis, destroyed their homes and killed thousands of their family members. Apparently, our proud religiosity and self-righteous superiority have blinded us to the humanity of others and made us a nation of dimwits. What the Iraqis want is for us to get the hell out.
Lela Knox Shanks
Lincoln, Nebraska, U.S.

School for Insurgency
“The Lessons of Najaf” [Aug. 30] described the flip-flops of the rebellious cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and his Mahdi Army. Slowly but surely, Iraq is becoming a Shi’ite theocracy like that of Iran. There is absolutely nothing the U.S. can do about it. That change is due in part to the ever growing influence of Grand Ayatullah Ali Husaini Sistani, to whom the Iraqi government turned in order to broker an end to the rebellion in Najaf. Isn’t that ironic, since it was Iran and not Iraq that sheltered al-Qaeda operatives? The so-called axis of evil will only be strengthened by the shortsighted actions of a U.S. President bent on making war.
Bastian Birkenhaeger
Friedrichsdorf, Germany

Olympian Heights
The ideals of the Olympic games are certainly worthwhile: sportsmanship, athletic prowess and opportunities for people from many nations and cultures to meet [Aug. 30]. What’s wrong is the goal of constantly setting new world records, on which most athletic competitions, including the Games, are based. That world-record ideology assumes that the human body is capable of infinite development, enabling specially gifted athletes to continue breaking records for all time to come. That expectation is the reason that athletes use performance-enhancing drugs. They know they are not capable of surpassing records without resorting to such drugs. It would be much healthier to forget about world records and let athletes at each Olympic Games compete for records that would be valid only for the Games of that year.
Ralferd C. Freytag
Victoria, Canada

It was a delight to watch all the athletes participating in the Athens Games. Hats off to the authorities for making a great event! As an Indian, I was embarrassed, however, by my country’s performance at these Olympics, since we came home with only one medal. I hope we Indians learned something from it. That most of the celebrities involved in the Olympic torch relay in New Delhi were not athletes was proof enough of the Indian government’s attitude toward sports. There is very little promotion of any sport in India other than cricket, which does not help us win Olympic medals. Just participating in the Games is all that counts for many of us, including the Indian Sports Ministry. But as tennis great Martina Navratilova once remarked, “Whoever said, ‘It’s not whether you win or lose that counts,’ probably lost.” Winning matters, whether we like it or not.
Ancy Kuruvilla
Mapusa, India

While addressing the audience at the Olympics’ closing ceremonies, Jacques Rogge, president of the International Olympic Committee, summed up perfectly: “Greek friends, you have won!” And we did win, despite all the negative, bordering-on-nasty articles in the British and American press. The Olympics are special in their own way each time they are held. The Athens Games had two tremendous difficulties to overcome: having a small country as host and occurring after 9/11. But both were surmounted. The Games were splendid, they were majestic, they were magic. We Greeks were hospitable, we were proud and, most of all, we had fun.
Chryssanthi Papageorgopoulos
Luxembourg City

Protecting the Big Cats
The effort to save the world’s big cats, such as lions, tigers, leopards and jaguars, is carried out in places other than offices in Washington and New York City [Aug. 23]. Although I was heartened to hear of the range of different strategies being pursued to protect these animals, I was also dismayed not to hear from field conservationists, those on the front lines of the battle. The contribution of U.S.-based conservationists in preserving biodiversity through their research, studies and financial support is well recognized. But conventions, policies, scientific papers and money alone do not constitute protection. Ultimately, the dedication of field-based conservators makes the difference between success and failure. People on the job dodge rebels’ bullets each day, or face the wrath of a mob led by angry parents who have just lost a son or a daughter to a big cat. The voices of those in the field should have been in your story. They are the true heroes.
Devendra S. Rana
Kathmandu, Nepal