Ah, Mad Ahmadinejad
Hillel Fradkin's "Reading Ahmad-inejad in Washington" (May 29) is both brilliant and alarming. One hopes not only that American policymakers give the piece the attention it deserves, but also that American intelligence services are capable of producing comparably insightful and sophisticated analyses. The free world has yet to understand and accept the frightening nature and extent of the threat the fanatical Iranian president represents. With its Kennanesque spirit, Fradkin's perceptive and sobering assessment should help hasten the inevitable day when the West is compelled to come to terms with the unpleasant reality it confronts in radical, apocalyptic Islam.
John David Dyche
Louisville, Ky.
Piping Up on Organs
Sally Satel's attempt in "The Kindness of Strangers" (May 29) to portray Dr. Douglas Hanto and others sharing his opinion as cold-hearted "obstructionists" is severely flawed. It is precisely because of his sympathy that he refuses to perform transplants out of order. Although Satel attempts to portray him as playing God with people's lives by not allowing transplants out of order, it is she who is playing God by insinuating that one person's life is worth more than another's simply because that person had the knowledge, means, and foresight to seek out a donor more aggressively than another.
I certainly understand Satel's concern, especially knowing that she has been through the experience herself. I also agree with her that a problem does in fact exist, but her solution is not viable. Instead of having people seeking out donors on their own and ultimately saying, "my life is worth more than yours," those administering the waiting list should themselves be aggressively seeking out those same donors and allowing the organs to be transplanted fairly--without resorting to valuing one person's life more than another's.
Paul M. Arking
Brooklyn, N.Y.
Migrants Sans Borders
Fred Barnes has it backwards--the way to lose the House is for Republicans to pass anything like the Senate bill ("How to Lose the House," May 29). A bad bill is worse than no bill at all. The Republican base won't be fooled by a reform that offers more benefits to illegal aliens and more costs to the American taxpayer. The goal of immigration reform should be to reduce the costly burden that immigration puts on the taxpayer. This bill does nothing to reduce that burden.
It is the costs of illegal immigration that infuriate the average American. Illegal aliens fill up emergency rooms getting free medical care, use free ambulances for nonemergency conditions, obtain free education, and collect welfare. We're not going to deport some twelve million illegal immigrants, but we should make all of them ineligible for taxpayer-provided services and should deport those who abuse our generosity.
Spec Bowers
Grantham, N.H.
If I had a pipe burst in my basement, I wouldn't even think of starting to bail until I shut off the water. With all of the illegal aliens who have leaked into this country from Mexico, some in Congress, particularly in the Senate, want to start bailing by offering amnesty and a "temporary" worker program. Yet we have enough laws on the books to "shut off the water," or the flow of illegals, so why not shut down the border first? After we have turned off the water, we can then discuss ways to bail.
John Billing
Ocean Pines, Md.