Semper Fi
I JUST WANTED TO thank you once again for all of the issues of your magazine that you send our battalion here in Iraq. It is a great thing to be able to read your publication here when otherwise we would have very little news from the outside world. Thank you!
Semper Fi.
1st Lt. James Crabtree
Iraq
P.S. You can still see updates I write on our unit at www.politics1.com.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Lt. Crabtree's message, written on a cardboard postcard, is reproduced below.
Big Man On Campus
I HAVE ALWAYS LIKED Tom Wolfe and his books, but I do understand Joseph Bottum's critique ("School Days," Nov. 22). Wolfe doesn't make his social commentary and plot cohere. I think his best book, which Bottum did not mention, is The Right Stuff, a wonderful portrait of the early years of NASA. And in spite of Wolfe's shortcomings, he hasn't sold his soul to the literary establishment. I look forward to reading his newest novel.
Chris Currie
Calypso, NC
Competence Man
I ENJOYED JOSEPH EPSTEIN'S article on George W. Bush's alleged hardware-store management ineptitude ("Sublime Competence," Nov. 22). Growing up in Arkansas (a "red" state), I remember going to our local hardware store. It was run by someone that author Philip Roth would no doubt have considered a stupid, red-necked, backwater, mouth-breathing hillbilly. His name was Sam Walton, the founder of Walmart.
Stephen T. Gerdel
Washington, MO
Bush vs. Europe
IRWIN M. STELZER hits the nail on the head in "An Alliance of Two" (Nov. 22). He clearly outlines the sentiments of many European leaders--and also hints at the possibility of a European alliance without the United States. Tony Blair was correct to point out that these statesmen must begin "a sensible debate about why people in America feel as they do."
But that debate is going in the wrong direction. I am just disgusted to hear again and again what Jacques Chirac said about Arafat and what José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero said about President Bush, not to mention Herr Schröder's anti-Americanism. The comments of each leader could not be any clearer.
A Europe united against the United States may be a reality. But I believe, possibly naively, that there are Europeans who disagree with their leaders.
It is about time that they stand up.
Laura Troidle
Branford, CT