Letters

Blues in the Big Easy

Our report on what remains to be accomplished in New Orleans, three months after Hurricane Katrina, moved readers to share their concern about conditions there. Some were outraged by the slow pace of the government's recovery efforts, while others argued against rebuilding in a flood zone

"New Orleans Today: It's Worse Than You Think" [Nov. 28] served as a much-needed wake-up call to Washington officials and the American people. The hurricane disasters on the Gulf Coast had a huge impact on the collective conscience of the nation when they occurred, but as we have become involved once again in our day-to-day tasks, the cleanup and sheer loss faced in Louisiana and elsewhere are old news. This busy holiday season, let's try to keep in our hearts all those who lost everything. LINDSEY FAHEY Frankfort, Ill.

It is with a heavy heart that I say I am against rebuilding New Orleans. Having lived in southern Louisiana for eight years, I love the people, the culture, the traditions, the kookiness, the spirituality. I love it all. But I have come to believe, as cruel as it sounds, that the people of New Orleans and southern Louisiana need to take steps to get out of harm's way and head to higher land. To them, I say, Spread your culture and traditions around the rest of Louisiana and the U.S. Please think of your great-grandchildren's well-being. Please, above all, be safe. Bad as it was, Katrina may not have been the Big One. LESLIE OLSEN SULLIVAN Huntington, N.Y.

I lost my home, all my belongings and my teaching job in New Orleans after Katrina. While I am extremely grateful to those who have welcomed me to a new life in the Southwest, I mourn the loss of my old life. When I returned briefly a few weekends ago, I walked by the Little Red Schoolhouse in the French Quarter; I looked in the window of my classroom and could see my students' unfinished work inside. That is how I feel about our lives in New Orleans: so much is left unfinished. Let us all hope that America steps up to help the Gulf Coast area in its days, months and years of need. DIANE M. BLACK Tucson, Ariz.

In another great American tragedy, the Dust Bowl migration of the 1930s, people didn't wait for government help to rebuild in an untenable environment. Instead, they moved to places better suited to habitation. How much would it cost to build a reliable levee around New Orleans--$25 billion? $50 billion? For $25 billion, we could build a new $90,000 home for 275,000 households displaced by Katrina. Simple economics says New Orleans should not be rebuilt. CHARLIE SMITH Pittsburgh, Pa.

I was feeling sorry for New Orleans--until I read the very first paragraph of your story, which told of booze flowing, men ogling strippers, and all the lewdness and debauchery of the city's carnival atmosphere. Shame on the people of New Orleans for their way of showing their thankfulness for being spared. DAVID SCHIMPF Saginaw, Mich.

People must not focus primarily on the negative side of New Orleans. We want the town to revive and be healthier than before. Emphasizing gloom will discourage citizens from returning, investors from building new enterprises, and hospitals, schools and other institutions from reopening. And it could keep the rest of the country from caring. Many New Orleanians are working extremely hard, most with no expectation of government help or charity aid. Americans should open their eyes to the energy of the people who are working their tails off to renew the city of New Orleans. KATHERINE LAWRENCE New Orleans

Only now do New Orleans residents seem to understand the foolishness of destroying the protective wetlands and the need for stricter building codes. I am truly sorry for the misfortune that has befallen New Orleans. But I just do not feel personally obligated to pay for it. CRAIG M. MILLER Lakewood, Ohio

Unrest in France

Can you imagine the U.S. Director of Homeland Security or any Canadian Cabinet minister going to a riot-torn area and calling the residents "scum," as France's Interior Minister Nicholas Sarkozy did [Nov. 21]? That should be political suicide, but Sarkozy got away with it. As a French citizen of South Asian origin, I would say that callousness represents the state of affairs in mainstream French society. Unlike the Anglo-Saxons, who have a penchant for politeness, the French have no inhibitions about crudely stating their reaction to events, no matter how offensive their comments might be. Attitude is only one of the problems in France. The country needs to get rid of its outmoded approach to race, immigration and integration. GAUTHAM VENKATA-CHALAM Ottawa

We French have suffered for decades from politicians who apparently lack all common sense and have no awareness of the real problems we face. BERNARD LEGUILLIER Peronne, France

Social exclusion in France may rely on racial or religious grounds, but it can also result from a person's lack of educational attainment. Those at the top business and political levels in France are trained in the best schools, which are out of the reach of the underprivileged class regardless of race or religion. But intelligence is unrelated to class. France, a nation that prides itself on its respect for human rights, should embrace the ideals of liberte, egalite, fraternite and give up pompous sermonizing. DIDIER BRAUN Antony, France

It is an illusion to believe the generous social-welfare benefits France offers its citizens--including millions of immigrants mostly from Arab countries--will bring social peace. How can the government, the left-wing media and elite French society turn a blind eye to the hatred brewing in immigrant housing projects? The greatest damage inflicted by the riots has been to the hopes of young Arab men and women who really want to become integrated into their adopted country. JAYANT GALA Brossard, Que.

The rage expressed night after night by alienated youths dealt a crushing blow to France's self-image as a model of tolerance and social equality. Could such riots occur in Canada, a nation of immigrants, many of whom face severe economic challenges and are excluded from Canadian society? We must make sure that Canada's educational system imparts a sense of shared values and that there are really equal opportunities for all. SYED WARIS SHERE Winnipeg

Life Savers

I was very impressed by your coverage of the Global Health crisis [Nov. 7], especially your article on Dr. Dora Akunyili, director general of Nigeria's National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, and her work to combat the trade in counterfeit medicines, even at the risk of her own life. It is good for her to be recognized as the Global Health hero she truly is. I appreciate her efforts and those of all the others fighting hard to eradicate dangerous diseases in underdeveloped countries. UCHE IWUAMADI Lagos

In the '80s and '90s, TV commercials depicting dirty, hungry children begging for pity were detrimental to aid work abroad. Instead of rousing Americans into action, such images made them feel powerless in what seemed like a futile struggle. Work on improving health in the developing world is just that: a job that humanitarian workers, scientists and philanthropists undertake with realistic expectations. It has been a hard struggle (preventing the spread of the HIV/AIDS epidemic), but there are huge successes (the measles vaccination campaign). Thanks for recognizing that combatting disease and poverty is a valorous and upbeat mission, not a hopeless one. DOROTHEE BOND Kinshasa

Once the problems of disease are finally solved, who will concern themselves with the resulting overpopulation, a crisis that already ravages the earth? Who are the celebrity sponsors of the effort to control population growth? Perhaps disease is nature's solution to that far more enduring problem. DEE GAUSS Kaiserslautern, Germany

Bordering on Defeat

Your Notebook item "Getting the lowdown on Iraq" reported that congressional leaders met with battle-tested battalion commanders who told them that the U.S. needs more troops in Iraq and that commanders have repeatedly asked for more manpower [Nov. 28]. Any military historian knows that a war cannot be won when the enemy is allowed either to rearm or to get money and additional troops on a regular basis. This situation is occurring in Iraq because we do not have enough troops to close the borders with Syria and Iran. We won't win in Iraq until we have more troops to close its borders. DON JOHNSON Kirkland, Wash.

Iraq, Past and Future

In "Think Twice About a Pullout" [Nov. 28], columnist Joe Klein accurately presented both sides of the discussion about whether to keep American troops in Iraq or to cut our losses and get out--and the possible consequences of each position. Klein also said that determining whether President Bush intentionally misled the country into war is "a waste of time." But Bush is the man who will make the call to get us out of the war. If we could not trust his honesty and integrity in getting us into this quagmire, what makes Klein think we can trust Bush and his cronies to get us out with dignity and honor and without a tremendous loss of life? SAMIR ID-DEEN Hawthorn Woods, Ill.

Klein is right. None of the blathering about being misled into war matters at all. What really counts is what would happen if we left Iraq before the new government was ready to take over all the duties we now perform. Would the Middle East situation worsen or not? Would the U.S. be seen as weak and thereby become more vulnerable to attack both at home and abroad? We must see our mission through in Iraq. And I say this as a father whose son will be entering the Army in 2007 and could go to Iraq before the war is over. We are making progress, despite what the spineless members of both parties in Congress want to acknowledge and in spite of the mass media that seem to be rooting for our failure. The consequences of pulling out too soon would be terrible, not only for Iraq but also for the U.S. Instead of talking about leaving, we need to go about winning. BRYAN BOYD Bristol, Tenn.

The Middle East is inherently unstable. An American pullout from Iraq would increase its instability. But so would a continued American presence there. Sending yet more troops to Iraq--if there were more troops to send--would only make things worse. We are seeing in retrospect that Saddam Hussein's brutal regime, crippled and contained in the aftermath of the first Gulf War, was perhaps the best of many bad scenarios. As for the future, we can pull out American troops and watch things disintegrate, or we can keep our forces in Iraq and watch things disintegrate. The only benefit to the first scenario is that Americans won't be the ones getting killed. ALLEN B. URY Costa Mesa, Calif.

Hollywood's Asian Romance

In his report on the making of the film Memoirs of a Geisha [Nov. 14], Richard Corliss said that China is rich in top actresses and Japan isn't. But there are wonderful Japanese actresses in The Last Samurai (2003) and The Twilight Samurai (2002), and the latter was nominated for an Oscar for best foreign-language movie. Just because Chinese films are better marketed than those made in Japan doesn't mean that Chinese actors are more talented. KAZUHO BABA Anaheim, California

Good Night and Good Luck

Essayist Pamela Paul discussed the ongoing debate over the best way to get a baby to sleep [Nov. 28]. My wife and I resorted to Dr. Richard Ferber's "cry it out" technique with our first son so that we could get some well-deserved shut-eye. Our boy was gifted with an operatic set of lungs. On the second or third night, we were watching the clock and gnashing our teeth at our baby's megadecibel wails. Finally we dashed into his room to comfort him and found that one of his legs had become trapped at a painful angle in a crib railing. Oh, the remorse! We practically flagellated ourselves for our negligence. We reverted to getting up several times a night to comfort our infant Caruso. He is now a senior in high school, where he has won several awards for solo and chorus singing. MARK CANTER Tallahassee, Fla.

I am always astonished when smart, educated parents turn to cookie-cutter solutions for raising their children. Guess what? Just like adults, kids are unique individuals. What works for one may not work for another. My sister told me, "Listen to your daughter. She will show you how to raise her." That is the best advice for any parent. DARIEN WERFHORST San Francisco