Gitmo. How to Fix It

Our report on Guantánamo Bay prompted readers to voice their concerns about the dubious nature of prison-based intelligence and the damage the prison does to the U.S.’s image abroad

The reports about the treatment of suspected terrorists at Guantánamo Bay are deeply disturbing [July 10]. The practice of restraining a person in a padded chair in order to force-feed him via a nasogastric tube is revolting. As a doctor, I am shocked that our government would abuse someone in such a way; as a Muslim, I am frightened that presumed religious fundamentalists have been so psychologically and physically tortured that they have tried to kill themselves (suicide, according to Islam, sends one straight to hell); and as a U.S. citizen, I am upset and find it morally unacceptable that inhuman acts are committed in our country’s name.
Salem Samra, M.D.
New Haven, Connecticut, U.S.

The detentions at Gitmo are immoral, illegal by international standards and profoundly un-American. It’s time to shut this abomination down before we create even more enemies than we already have. We should try the detainees we can’t immediately clear, punish the ones we convict and release the rest. Any possibility of extracting useful intelligence from the detainees passed years ago.
Ken Keaton
Lauderhill, Florida, U.S.

Although I am a great believer in the U.S. as a force for good, the thought of Guantánamo Bay leaves me sickened and disillusioned. The detentions show that in some significant ways, the U.S. has become like its terrorist enemies. Gitmo exists because of a technicality: it is not on U.S. soil. It would have been dismantled long ago if it were in Texas.
Wayne Rosen
Calgary

Guantanamo as a font of intelligence is a dubious notion, for the value of information obtained under torture is highly questionable. Believing that useful information can still be gleaned from some of the detainees after four years is as stupid, arrogant and shameful as continuing to detain those no longer facing regular questioning. But then Guantánamo has more to do with blind revenge and the display of unlimited power than with obtaining justice. The best way for Americans to fix Gitmo would be to close it and return Guantánamo Bay, a remnant of colonial imperialism, to Cuba.
Jean-Paul Debattice
Brussels

Going into Gaza
“Search & destroy” [July 10], on Israel’s raid against Hamas during the search for a kidnapped soldier, stated that “Gaza militants have fired homemade rockets at Israeli towns, usually missing but causing some injuries and great misery.” Women and children have been injured or killed by the shelling. To call that “great misery” is a bit understated. As an Israeli living in the San Francisco Bay Area, I wonder how the San Jose police department would react if people in its southern neighborhoods fired missiles at its northern ones. Obviously the Gaza situation is different, but if the Palestinian authorities wish to have full control of their territories, they should act responsibly, the same as any modern country would: by identifying, capturing and punishing criminals and other types of evildoers.
Eyal Traitel
Cupertino, California, U.S.

The Palestinians remain committed to the destruction of Israel. As soon as they had control of Gaza, they vandalized the synagogues, destroyed state-of-the-art greenhouses and did nothing to create jobs and income. If the Palestinians hadn’t been so obsessed with warring against Israel during the past 58 years, they would have made enormous social and economic progress. Palestinians deserve leaders who are committed to creating peace and jobs and raising their standard of living, not destroying it.
Joseph Abdel Wahed
Moraga, California, U.S.

Liberty vs. Security
Everyone should read managing editor Richard Stengel’s “To Our Readers” column about the crossfire between the U.S. government and the press over the stories on the classified program to monitor bank records [July 10]. It was refreshing, in this era of knee-jerk vilification of the other guy’s point of view, for Stengel to urge us to listen carefully to the debate, since power politics may play a role on both sides. As he reminded us, we are the judges.
Audrey Mayville
Winston-Salem, North Carolina, U.S.

The press might have less difficulty withholding the details of ongoing national-security programs if it were not distracted by the grandiose notion that it must “speak truth to power.” A better objective would be to provide accurate and useful information. That may not sound as exciting, but it is a clearer conception of what the public needs.
Clay Boswell
New York City

I trust the government more than I trust the media these days. What might keep journalists from getting too full of themselves? The sight of a few leakers, reporters and editors defending themselves against formal charges of treason might do the trick.
Gary L. Parry
Carrollton, Texas, U.S.

Stengel’s “No one gets a blank check” is the finest essay I have read for some time. It’s a pity he couldn’t station himself in Australia for a while to judge some of our pillars of society, whose double-talk is on a par with that of their ideological brothers and sisters in the U.S.
Bill Sherriff
Niddrie, Australia

When a government official leaks classified information, it is a crime, and the person should be tried and, if found guilty, punished. Journalists should be held accountable if they aid and abet in a crime. The natural conflict between the government and the press should be resolved by the Legislative and Judicial branches. It would benefit our society to have these cases taken to court. Nobody has the right to reveal information that could threaten our national security.
Peter Smith
Castle Rock, Colorado, U.S.

Germany’s True Face
Bill Saporito’s essay on the World Cup, “A month of smiles and sourpusses” [July 10], left me outraged, especially his ironic reference to Germany as “the taciturn, inflexible, humorless country with the inedible cuisine.” That remark didn’t show a large amount of cultural or journalistic savvy. Unfortunately I can’t show much compassion for his endurance of “smiles locked in place.” Having lived in the U.S. for a year as an exchange student, I don’t think fake smiles and forced politeness should be foreign to an American. My country made a great effort to be host of the World Cup and help fans from other countries feel welcome. It is sad when old prejudices are brought up in an attempt at satire. For the first time in a long while, people in this country feel national pride and are free to show it. Germany didn’t deserve such a one-sided, sardonic summary. I cordially invite Saporito to visit me so I can show him the real face of my country.
Katharina Pink
Munich

Superpowers on the Horizon
Your reporting on the economic growth of India, “India Awakens” [July 3], made plain that the world is changing at a pace we can’t control. Countries that have had nothing in the past are now fighting to assert their dominance on the world stage. No longer are Western nations the rulers of our planet. Eastern countries have seen what the West has achieved, and now they want a little of that for themselves. I don’t believe it will be long before China and India become the new superpowers. I wonder how the U.S. will cope when it no longer has the power to dictate to the rest of the world.
Owen Hollifield
Cardiff, Wales

Felling the Gentle Giants
I was distressed to read “Revenge of the whale hunters” [July 3]. Norway’s flouting of the International Whaling Commission rules is particularly offensive because it bespeaks the whalers’ pleasure in defying international opinion. This summer a group of tourists who had gone to Norway on a whale safari — to see and photograph the magnificent animals, not shoot them — were horrified to see a whale harpooned before their eyes. That bloody scene was followed by the grisly sight of the butchering of a carcass on another ship. The whalers were unrepentant. With its income from North Sea oil, Norway has no economic reason to support its contemptuous stance on whaling. It is tragic that whales must suffer to satisfy the chauvinistic urges of a fanatical special-interest group.
Greta Frankel
Stockholm

Having read your article on the possible resumption of whaling by some countries, I am appalled at how we humans have not learned the lessons of the past. Whalers kill these gentle giants by shooting them with harpoons tipped with grenades, which explode inside the whale’s body. That is disgusting. We, through our uncontrolled population growth and greed, are pushing to extinction the other wonderful life-forms that share this little planet with us. Of course, one remedy would be to boycott all goods from nations that persist in the barbaric practice of commercial whaling. I refuse to purchase any goods made in Japan or any other country that voted for a return to the murder of whales.
Jon Ralph
Cape Town, South Africa