CHALLENGING GORE
IN CHALLENGING the Monday-morning quarterbacking over military tactics in Afghanistan and Iraq, Reuel Marc Gerecht ("Are We Safer?" June 30) asks, "If Al Gore had been president, would he have overruled General [Tommy] Franks's casualty-averse, Special Forces-on-horseback, airpower-heavy approach to the Afghan war?"
I agree with Gerecht that Gore would not have done so, for the simple reason that he would not have had to confront the question. We act as if the war in Afghanistan was a fait accompli, but it was not. Al Gore might have very well not attacked, but instead dealt with the problem like his predecessor Bill Clinton, as a police/intelligence matter.
EVAN WINER
Evanston, Ill.
DEPICTING "BUBBA"
MATT LABASH evoked an excellent understanding of "Mudcat" Saunders and his ideas on how best to woo the Appalachian vote ("When Bubba Meets Obama," June 30). However, I was particularly impressed with Thomas Fluharty's cover illustration for the article.
As something of a "Bubba" myself, I can attest that Fluharty managed to capture the essence of the men with whom I've spent many enjoyable hours in Texas and the inland counties of California. Of course, the sketch was a caricature and not every "Bubba" sports a trucker tan or a Skoal can in the back pocket of his camo cut-offs, but on top of the remarkable detail it was close enough to correct to give me more than one chuckle.
MIKE HARRIS
Seattle, Wash.
A BLOOD LIBEL
ANNE-ELISABETH MOUTET'S story ("L'Affaire Enderlin," July 7 / July 14) is about a secondary issue: the reaction of French elites to an attack on one of their own. But the al-Dura story itself is, as Melanie Phillips and others have written, a blood libel, and as with that calumny, proving one incident to be false does little to change the underlying belief in the claims of murderous Israeli practices.
There was something fishy about the al-Dura story from the very beginning. Just look at the famous pictures. First, the father is crouching behind a concrete barrier supposedly with gunfire aimed at him. If so, why is his head above the barrier most of the time? Not exactly the position of someone trying to protect himself. But worse is the position of the boy. What father would not have placed the boy up against the barrier and thrown his own body over his son to shield him from the bullets? Did this father not care about his son? More likely, the boy is positioned to be visible for the cameras. There is no other explanation, and Palestinians should have been embarrassed by the pictures from the start. That no one saw what was staring them in the face is appalling and speaks to the effect of years of anti-Israeli propaganda pushed in the media.
There is a desperate need to continue to publicize the truth about this incident and about the overwhelming decency and humanity of Israel's soldiers.
JOSEPH SHIER
Toronto
VOTES OF THE FAITHFUL
RYAN T. ANDERSON'S article, "McCain, Obama, & the Catholic Vote" (July 7 / July 14), provides a good overview of the issues that will guide Catholic voters this fall. However, the only issues at stake in this election that the Catholic Church holds as untenable are abortion rights, embryo destruction, cloning, and same-sex marriage. The other issues Anderson mentions are open to debate to faithful Catholics; therefore, a faithful Catholic should decide to vote based on the above untenable issues. This allows no question for whom to vote for the office of the presidency. I will be voting for John McCain in November even though I do disagree with him on such debatable issues as immigration policy and global warming.
JEANETTE HOLM
Mandan, N.D.
RYAN T. ANDERSON'S article on the November Catholic vote is just about the most balanced writing I have come across anywhere in the media on this issue. If only the liberal outlets would print it!
LOTTIE OLENDER
Wallington, N.J.
TIME TO GO HOME?
REGARDING Fred Barnes's "Very Retiring Republicans" (July 7 / July 14): How very disappointing to learn that our elected Republican representatives must have positions of power in order to have job satisfaction. All these years I thought they wanted to be elected to represent (as the name of the position implies) their constituency. Perhaps they do need a job in the real world!
SUE HOSTETTER
Piqua, Ohio