Letters

Really? Did anyone tell the 10 percent or so of Americans currently out of work that the recession is over?
Andrew Dunn, San Diego, Calif.

Daniel Gross mentions that the "new recovery" isn't creating nearly enough jobs. How about bringing back the Civilian Conservation Corps? The massive forest fires that we've seen in recent years are from millions of acres of unhealthy, overgrown national forests. They got this way because of a century of stop-burn forestry practices that prevented the natural clearing of the underbrush. We can make like Franklin D. Roosevelt and send armies of young men to restore these forests.
Colin Stuart, San Francisco, Calif.

'On Iran, Do Nothing, Yet'
I wish Fareed Zakaria were right in suggesting that the best way to deal with the Iranian nuclear threat is deterrence and containment, "a policy that worked against Stalin and Mao and works against North Korea." But he is dangerously wrong. North Korea's nuclear and missile testing and proliferation indicate how unsuccessful containment has been. In the case of Iran, it would unleash an Arab and Muslim nuclear-arms race in the most dangerous region in the world. And when a nuclear device gets into the hands of terrorists, how exactly will they be contained or deterred? The world is safer today because Iraq, Libya, and, according to Western sources, Syria were prevented from developing nuclear weapons. The world is less safe because Pakistan and North Korea were "contained" and allowed to proliferate their nuclear and missile technologies. Not learning from history is a mistake. Making the wrong analogies and taking the wrong lessons from history may be even more dangerous.
Former Ambassador Sallai Meridor, Kfar Adumim, Israel

'We're Almost There'
In the midst of an increasingly heated debate on health-system reform, it was refreshing and inspiring to see your cover proclaim: "We're Almost There" (July 27). America is a can-do country—not one to turn away from a challenge. We've got the best health-care system in the world, but 47 million of us are uninsured, and that number is growing every day. Physicians work day and night to provide patients with high-quality care within the confines of a broken system. When Congress returns after the August recess, we need to focus on the common ground we share to reach the end goal: affordable, high-quality health care for all, and an even better health-care system for patients—and the physicians who care for them.
J. James Rohack, M.D., President, American Medical Association, Chicago, Ill.

'Gitmo Woes'
My students and I represent Ahmed Zuhair, a former Guantánamo detainee who was repatriated to Saudi Arabia in June. This long-overdue decision cannot credibly be described as a "hard call," as a Justice official explains it in your Scope item. Bush administration lawyers dropped a baseless allegation against Mr. Zuhair that implicated him in the 1995 murder of an American employee of the U.N. in Bosnia. The U.N. investigation into this crime does not even mention Mr. Zuhair, let alone "implicate" him. Further, in 1998, Bosnian police issued an arrest warrant for a different man in connection with the murder, the same suspect identified by the U.N.
Ramzi Kassem, Associate Professor of Law, City University of New York Law School, New York, N.Y.

© 2009