Letters

TRIAL BY LEAKS

"So far, we have gossip, innuendo and leaks. Enough already! We are fortunate to have a President who is sensitive and compassionate." BRETT LEVIN PINTO Quogue, N.Y.

I hold the office of President in the highest regard, but not the man [SPECIAL REPORT, Feb. 16]. President Clinton and his cohort need to come clean and stop blaming everyone else for their troubles. I commend independent counsel Kenneth Starr for his perseverance in the face of denial. Starr didn't bring the thunder down from the heavens onto the Clintons; they did it themselves. I am ashamed that Clinton is still in office. TARYN SANFORD Sheffield, Ala.

Just imagine how the history of the past 35 years might have been changed if, during the Cuban missile crisis, President John F. Kennedy had had to face not only Nikita Khrushchev but also a special prosecutor digging into his sex life. I am concerned that today the U.S. is focused on Clinton's sexual behavior while the world burns. MARCOS MOSHINSKY Mexico City

Do Americans want the media to have a camera and microphone placed between the sheets of all elected officials in order to monitor every single moment of their lives? This attitude debases democracy and shames America. MARK GREENTON Cleveland, Ohio

Starr is seeking to build a case involving perjury, subornation of perjury and obstruction of justice. He is not seeking to indict the President for adultery or sexual misconduct. Yet the media and the public seem unable to understand this. What is so complicated? HENRY S. KRAMER Wharton, N.J.

Special Prosecutor Starr is portrayed as a witch hunter by the media. But his investigation has led to indictments and convictions. More will come despite consistent stonewalling. The independent-counsel law is badly written, but it was passed by a Democratic Congress and extended by a Democratic Congress. It is now being used for "witch-hunts" against Democrats. How tragic. DAVID M. HERRING Rockport, Texas

Back in the 1920s, Cecil B. Demille made movies featuring wild pagan bacchanals with partly nude women. It was not immoral to show them, he explained, because he was only telling stories from the Bible. For titillating his audience while piously claiming a higher motive, ole Cecil B. had nothing on Starr. LARRY RAINER Burlington, Vt.

The lurid drama of the White House sex scandal is an American tragedy. The Justices of the Supreme Court raised the curtain when, with questionable judicial wisdom, they decreed in the Paula Jones case that a President can be sued while he is in office. HENRY LEE Memphis, Tenn.

AND THE PRESS GOES WILD

While I respect the media's right to pursue a news story, I must say that watching the frenzy when Clinton's secretary was called before the grand jury deeply saddened me [SPECIAL REPORT, Feb. 16]. Have we forgotten so quickly what happened to Princess Diana? Isn't the mainstream press guilty of doing what it is so critical of? JOSEPH MCGRATH Stratford, Conn.

You are publishing simply too much on Clinton's troubles. As if the President's private life, ambitious lawyers and publicity-seeking girls were the most important problems in the world! If I were interested in tawdry scandals, I'd read the tabloids. RENATE FREYMANN Hochstadt, Germany

The Clinton-Starr-Lewinsky case reminds me of the English variety of fox hunting, but with the mass media representing the dogs. Disgusting. LEIV VADSTEIN Oslo

DESPERATELY DEFENDING MONICA

When will Americans realize that our individual privacy is under attack? As Monica Lewinsky's lawyers, William Ginsburg and Nathaniel Speights [SPECIAL REPORT, Feb. 16] said, "Starr seems to think it's O.K. to break the law to enforce the law." Our individual rights, along with the truth, do not seem to matter if they do not fit in with the power elite's agenda. Anyone can be a victim. Wake up, America! KAREN CAGLE Fort Collins, Colo.

If you want to swim with the sharks, expect to be bitten. The fact that Lewinsky was tape-recorded talking for more than 20 hours about her escapades put enough blood in the water to cause the sharks' feeding frenzy. She can only hope to emerge with minimal scars. MAGGIE BARDUSON Phoenix, Ariz.

EL NINO'S WRATH

At least El Nino is a welcome change of pace [SCIENCE, Feb. 16] from Washington mudslinging, snow jobs, storms of controversy, floods of salacious rumors and the avalanche of media overkill. BONNIE COMPTON HANSON Santa Ana, Calif.

Weather reporters have been passing along a lot of hype and confusion in their snippets of news concerning El Nino. Finally I understand what El Nino is really all about and why. Thank you for a wonderful and enlightening article. But now, how will it be possible to keep blaming El Nino for everything from the Lewinsky and Clinton scandal to Saddam Hussein's activities? BOB KELLER Lake Havasu City, Ariz.

DEATH OF A PRINCESS

The new book about the death of Princess Diana is an insult to the French medical team that fought in vain to save her life last August [BOOK EXCERPT, Feb. 16]. Everyone knows the situation was hopeless. It is tasteless for a couple of American journalists to criticize the heroic efforts of the French doctors and the British intelligence team that have had to pick up the pieces and deal with the aftermath of the accident. The authors can wheel out as many American experts as they like, expound on as many theories as they like of how American procedures could have saved Diana's life, but this is just another tacky attempt to make money out of Diana's horrific death. MARY WESTCOTT-YOUNG Nottingham, England

Given the extent of Diana's injuries, her death was inevitable. Stories about what might have happened only cause further pain for the families of those involved. Let the dead rest in peace. SIAN MORTON Pambula, Australia

The suggestion that Diana could have been saved if she had been transported more quickly to a hospital completely ignores the French system of medical rescue, which relies on fully equipped ambulances manned by a medical team under the supervision of a physician. The technique of on-site treatment often saves the injured. Many victims cannot be moved immediately without endangering their lives. It is easy to say afterward that Diana should have been sent to the hospital right away. But when a team arrives on the scene, it is impossible in most cases to tell immediately which is the best solution. The French approach is a reasonable one. ANDRE ORBAN Geneva

You provided a tantalizing excerpt from what is no doubt a fascinating book. The section on whether Diana could have lived debates relevant issues of delay in hospital treatment, given that Diana survived for nearly two hours. But what is surely more important is that if she, Dodi Fayed and the chauffeur had been wearing seat belts, they almost certainly would have survived and been able to throw some real light on exactly what happened in the accident. ROB TUNBRIDGE Berkshire, England

THAT HANDICAPPED GOLFER

I was appalled to read that golfer Casey Martin, who has a circulatory leg ailment, won his case and will be allowed to compete in PGA tournaments using a golf cart [NOTEBOOK, Feb. 16]. I am wheelchair-bound with muscular dystrophy, and some time ago, I had to abandon my chosen sport of riding and show jumping. Too bad I never thought of suing the American Horse Shows Association for the right to compete with a seat belt on the saddle. All over the country disabled athletes have competed vigorously in their own sports groups. They didn't expect major sports to adapt to them, but came up with methods to compete in their own way with no special dispensations. If Martin wants to play golf, he can easily go to municipal or club courses, where almost everyone uses a golf cart. This guy deserves the Twit of the Year award. ELIZABETH P. WEST Dallas

If endurance is integral to participating in the PGA Tour, then the use of caddies should be forbidden. D. FERREL ATKINS Charleston, Ill.

ORIGINS OF AIDS

Your report "When Did AIDS Begin?" [MEDICINE, Feb. 16] seemed to offer just another convenient reason to blame the roots of this virus on Africa. You say a blood sample taken in 1959 in central Africa contained HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. But if the disease has existed on the continent since the '50s, surely many more than 21 million people in Africa would now be suffering from aids. If we factor in mass-inoculation programs on the continent (which can spread the disease), a far worse AIDS crisis should have resulted if the virus were as old as scientists claim. We need a better explanation than a 39-year-old blood specimen and pure speculation. MODUPE ADEBIYI Miami