Letters

The Struggle Within Islam
Your story described a battle for the soul of Islam between tolerant moderates and hateful extremists who are a threat to all [Sept. 20]. You seemed to link religious piety with violence and terrorism. That is a simplification and misses the point that faith and consciousness of God make people, especially devout Muslims like me, better individuals. My faith teaches me that one day I will be held accountable for my actions in front of the Almighty and that I must do as many good deeds as possible. I realize that is not true for extremists like Osama bin Laden, but millions of other people of faith and a majority of Muslims feel the way I do. Just because some terrorists happen to be fundamentalists (Jewish, Christian and Muslim) doesn’t mean all fundamentalists and God-fearing people are terrorists.
Ehsan Poonawalla
New Brunswick, New Jersey, U.S.

It is good that TIME highlighted the fact that there are moderate Muslims who denounce Islamic terrorism and strive for a more tolerant and open interpretation of Islam. Sadly, many of those Muslims learned their moderation from contact with the West; current Islamic culture by itself seems unable to produce such broad-mindedness on a large scale. That is not too surprising. In most Muslim countries, citizens are not exposed to the true teachings of other religions; indeed, they are often encouraged to despise others’ beliefs, although ignorant of their actual meaning. Anyone who challenges such a policy, who takes another faith seriously, will probably suffer grave consequences. Until such attitudes change, the voice of Muslim moderates will always be curtailed, and Islam will continue to be a vehicle for uninformed hatred of the West.
Colin Sowden
Abergavenny, Wales

There has been a total failure by European nations and the U.S. in addressing the menace of Islamic fundamentalism. Radical clerics who, according to the standards of the Western world, are not sufficiently educated or well versed in using sophisticated tools have managed to outsmart the world’s best intelligence networks and governments. These clerics have upped the ante and cleverly spawned the cancer of hatred in the thoughts of the innocent young and the gullible common folk in Muslim countries around the globe. It is a psychological game that President George W. Bush has not yet grasped. The West needs to understand the psyche of the manipulators and the victims in Islamic countries. Preaching democracy is not sufficient. It is time to truly deliver democracy while fighting the menace of Islamic fundamentalism.
Narayan Venkatraman
New Delhi

Religion is supposed to teach the essence of kindness, a benign way to conduct life, not to practice brutal cruelty. Terrorism feeds on ignorance. Fanatic religious clerics, hiding their real agenda, motivate uneducated teenagers in pursuit of grandiose dreams of power, lying to them about pleasures to come for sacrificing their earthly life for one in heaven. Such unbelievable dogma turns decent young people into murderers who will have to answer for their terrible crimes against humanity.
Robert Kennedy Fraser
Harrogate, England

Bush’s Military Record
Those who did not live through the Vietnam era should not criticize Bush’s record in the National Guard [Sept. 20]. Nearly everyone who could get a student deferment or a spot in the Guard did so. As a medical-school graduate during the war, I had no choice but to go on active duty. What happened 35 years ago should not be an issue for either Bush or John Kerry. What should matter are their records as President and Senator.
David S. Alkek
Dallas

“The X Files of Lt. Bush” stated, “a gap in service was not unprecedented … members of the Dallas Cowboys served in the Guard and routinely disappeared during the football season.” Ah, I guess if a long absence was O.K. for pro football players, then it was also O.K. for Bush?
Margot C. Milner
Rémuzat, France

Who Is Kerry, Really?
In his interview with TIME [Sept. 20], John Kerry stated that a strategy of Bush’s campaign advisers has been to attack Kerry “because they don’t have a record to run on.” But Kerry rarely refers to his Senate record. It looks as if he is avoiding talking about what he did as a Senator, which is why we independent voters are having such a hard time deciding who Kerry is and, measured by his voting record, what he stands for. You missed an opportunity to help us figure it out — and so has he.
Allen Gray
Shrewsbury, New Jersey, U.S.

Up Against It
Re “Coolness Under Fire” [Sept. 20]: John Kerry’s troubled campaign convinces me that the U.S. is a nation of gullible buffoons. Of course Bush has supporters who would follow him into the depths of hell (which they may indeed do), but to see people being easily swayed by an Administration that has so many failures is mind boggling. The future is clear: the Administration will continue barreling along, arrogantly pushing its failed special-interest agenda, while the sheep (the American public) are herded off the cliff.
Lorraine Huzar
Jericho, New York, U.S.

Does Kerry really think Jacques Chirac and Gerhard Schröder would be so enchanted with him that they would immediately embrace the U.S. and send their troops to Iraq? Kerry is either incredibly naive or misleading his constituency.
Charles G. Kormendy
Frankfurt

The upcoming U.S. presidential election is a matter of interest to the world outside America. Recent events have shown that, under the pretext of the war on terrorism, the President can determine the fate of many smaller countries. The international community realizes the danger of allowing one country unlimited discretion in its foreign policy. For that reason, all Americans have a duty to themselves and the rest of the world to exercise democracy and vote for the best candidate on the basis of not only domestic issues but also foreign policy. If they don’t, the next time the war on terrorism is invoked to invade an unsuspecting country without conclusive evidence or an international mandate by the U.N., the blood of innocents will be on those voters’ hands.
Putri Norlisa Najib
London

Beslan Postmortem
In view of the school siege in Beslan, Russia [Sept. 20], it is high time for us psychologists to seriously consider designing a manual on how to handle hostage-taking situations. Such a manual should be based on a very careful study of all the minute details of the experiences that surviving hostages have gone through. There should also be an extensive analysis of terrorist behavior in such situations: weaknesses, mood swings, what triggers anger vs. what is calming. There is much to be gained from the accounts of hostages. If we can compile all this information in a step-by-step guide with a “what to do” and “what not to do” approach, we might be able to reduce the number of deaths, especially among innocent children.
Rita Merhej, Clinical Psychologist
Beirut

It is hard to understand that there are people so inhuman they can wage war on infants and children and truly believe these innocents are legitimate targets. The sight of the bloodied and crying children shook me to my very soul. The world must unite against these terrorists, condemn their actions as barbaric and bring them to justice to face the punishment they deserve. I don’t think God or the highest being of any religion would condone such acts of unspeakable horror against the most innocent among us, our children.
Sarah de Roos
Rheinfelden, Germany

Killing children is despicable; however, it’s time to pause and take stock of the situation in Chechnya. The Russian government must reach accommodation with moderate Chechens and look for ways to grant the territory some meaningful autonomy, even if it is under the umbrella of the Russian Federation. Moreover, to hold extremists in check, governments across the world must learn to be receptive to diverse viewpoints. Alienation and suppression of contrary opinion and groups, whether ethnic, religious or sectarian, are ultimately counterproductive. We need to prevent sowing the seeds of evil that grew into the horror of Beslan.
Chinedu Nwankwo
Umungasi, Nigeria

Time to Get Down
Columnist Joe Klein’s “All You Have To Do Is Believe” [Sept. 20] quoted an unnamed prominent Democrat who said of President Bush, “If we can’t beat this guy, with his record … ,” and then the Democrat found himself unable to finish the sentence. If I may, I would like to complete it for him: If the Democratic Party can’t beat Bush, then it deserves to go the way of the Whigs and the Know Nothings. And if Bush gets re-elected, I swear I will never vote Democratic again.
Cary A. Wiesner
West Branch, Iowa, U.S.

Indonesia Is Struck Again
Your World Watch item on the suicide bombing in Jakarta made it clear that terrorism is still prevalent in Indonesia [Sept. 20]. That attack came less than two years after the October 2002 bombing on the resort island of Bali that killed 202 people. Indonesians today are praying for peace in the region and an end to terrorist activities. The devastation in Indonesia has shocked the world and clearly shows that Muslim nations are also strongly affected by terrorism the same way other countries are. Peace is something the region demands now.
Akshay Mor
Bombay

Standoff in Iraq
Many with 20/20 hindsight blame Bush for invading Iraq [Sept. 20]. Their hypocrisy is glaring, as an antiwar position can only mean Saddam Hussein and his two sadistic sons would still be in power. It is incredible that people can’t see that if Saddam had not been removed, before long Iraq would have bankrolled terrorist organizations and suicide bombers to target Americans.
Frank Wenceslao
Norwalk, California. U.S.

Of Life and Law
You asked, appropriately enough, “Does the Koran Condone Killing?” [Sept. 20] and then focused primarily on the beheading of hostages by insurgents in Iraq. Why not ask whether the Bible condones killing and explore the bombing, shelling and deaths of thousands of innocent civilians in Iraq? From the fire bombings of Dresden and Tokyo to the nuclear holocausts of Nagasaki and Hiroshima, the U.S. appears to have no particular scruples about causing civilian deaths.
Dennis Green
Alameda, California, U.S.