Inbox

A City in Ruin
Re “Why New Orleans Still Isn’t Safe” [Aug. 20]: When I moved to New Orleans as a young man in 1967, I viewed the city with fresh eyes. As I explored Canal Street, I saw three monstrous pipes on the edge of the road and heard the deep rumble from the pumping station. I recalled that New Orleans is 20 feet or so below sea level. As I looked up at the clear sunny sky, I realized that New Orleans was a disaster waiting to happen. If it took that amount of pumping on a sunny day to keep the city dry, what would happen when the water overflowed the levees? I love this city and think the Federal Government should pay to relocate the people, but never rebuild. Our government could spend $10 billion to restore the city and the levees, and another hurricane could destroy it the next day. This is Nature’s way of saying, “Don’t build here.”
Don Clary,
Palos Verdes, Calif., U.S.

The exposé on New Orleans was one of the most naive I have ever read. To think this city will rise again because of the “resilience of its people” is a fairy tale. To believe this city can be made safe in the face of warming global temperatures, powerful storms and rising sea levels is completely ridiculous. There’s an old saying: A boat is a hole in the water into which you throw money. The same could be said of New Orleans. The main lesson of Katrina is that you can’t fool Mother Nature.
Bruce Gary,
Rhinelander, Wis., U.S.

New Orleans is and always has been a doomed city. The Corps of Engineers can’t stop the inevitable. It is misleading to state that “New Orleans wasn’t always a city in a bowl.” Levees and loss of wetlands did not cause it to sink — they simply sped up the process. The city sinks by compacting the mud on which it is built. And even if the Mississippi River ran its course unchanged, New Orleans would be buried by sediment. It would sink faster under the weight. We should not rebuild New Orleans in the same location. No city can exist there for long. We are committing future generations to a similar fate.
Todd Johnston,
State College, Pa., U.S.

While congress has been somewhat generous with funding for the purposes of rebuilding New Orleans, pet projects continue to take priority. The Corps of Engineers has demonstrated its ineptness in managing the task. It lacks the expertise required to evaluate the myriad alternative solutions and execute a plan. Rebuilding and protecting New Orleans and the coastal wetlands is indeed analogous to putting a person on the moon. It should be orchestrated by an independent civilian agency composed of experts from industry and academia, representing all the branches of science and engineering from which expertise is required. That agency would not build a wall or a levee or a canal but rather an ecosystem compatible with nature, mankind, the arts and industry unique to this great spot on our planet.
Michael G. Youngblood,
Baton Rouge, La., U.S.

Putting a Cap on Bottle Waste
Re Bryan Walsh’s “Back to the Tap” [Aug. 20]: After living more than 30 years in countries in which drinking tap water was a known risk, I was amazed to come home and find everyone buying water. First, I thought they bought the plastic bottles and filled them from the tap. But no, they bought them, water and all, at the supermarket, lugged them home and refrigerated them. And when they had emptied the bottles, they disposed of them in the trash. How about the water I drank overseas? It had been carried maybe a mile in a clay jug on someone’s head or brought up from the canal in a goatskin over someone’s shoulder. I think tap water is great. Selling water is surely the biggest scam of the century, and Americans have fallen for it.
Marjorie Dye,
Pasadena, Calif., U.S.

Happy Anniversary, India
Congratulations on the special report about India’s 60 years of independence [Aug. 13]. William Dalrymple’s “Business as Usual” was a brilliant piece of writing. India’s democracy is robust, and in the past 15 years, its economy has grown fast. Nevertheless, India could (and must) have much more human equality. The country is home to the largest number of poor and malnourished. And yet, as mentioned in your June 18, 2007, issue, the estimated cost of billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s planned 27-floor mansion in Mumbai is $1 billion, more than the combined annual income of half a million such Indians. As long as excessive bureaucracy and rampant corruption are not tackled, the dreams of equality and inclusive development will remain out of reach.
Ramesh Chandra Agrawal,
Berlin

Your coverage was good, but I was surprised that you dedicated half of it to Aryn Baker’s story “Beyond Faith,” giving readers the impression that Islam plays a big part in Indian life. Roughly only 1 out of 10 Indians is Muslim, and 60 years of independence have produced a functioning secular democracy in India and a failed Islamic state in Pakistan. Pakistan would have disintegrated into warring ethnic provinces had it not been for the billions of dollars that the U.S. poured into the coffers of military dictators and generals. Can we let India be India and Pakistan be Pakistan?
Gautham Venkata-Chalam,
Mazayes, France

I wish India would also charge ahead with courtesy, regard for others and usage of the words please, sorry and thank you!
Pankaj Vohra,
New Delhi

A Fresh Breeze in Gaza
How refreshing and indeed surprising to read Andrew Lee Butters’ report “A Sort of Peace in Gaza” [Aug. 20]. For far too long, we in the Western world have been fed a one-sided view of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, in which Israel is portrayed as the victim of Palestinian obstinance and aggression without any questioning why Palestinians are so aggrieved. Those who cared to look beyond the rhetoric of U.S. and Israeli policy and familiarize themselves with the appalling injustice that has befallen the Palestinian people over the past 60 years could not fail to sympathize with their struggle for justice, freedom and the application and protection of international law — something that we Westerners take for granted but quietly ignore when it comes to the Palestinians.
Sean Clinton,
Lisnagry, Ireland

Thank goodness TIME is not afraid to tell us how Hamas, the winner in the democratic elections the West wanted in Palestine, is doing its best to run Gaza responsibly. Not only is it iniquitous that the U.S. and Europe have sidelined the elected government, but it is also extremely cruel that we have been complicit in Israel’s blockade, which is further impoverishing the people of Gaza. They have as much right to travel abroad and trade with the outside world as we or the Israelis do.
Tony Davies,
Exeter, England

This is just a quick shout-out to compliment you on that subtle and refreshing report. I am an anthropologist living in Ramallah, and I often travel to Gaza. It is truly refreshing to read an article that goes beyond the usual generalizations and simplifications about Gaza and Hamas. Well done, and I hope to read more!
Anne de Jong,
Ramallah, West Bank