Can War Crimes Be Justified?

Thank you, NEWSWEEK, for having the courage to write about the kind of atrocities that human-rights groups have been calling attention to since the war on Afghanistan began (“The Death Convoy of Afghanistan,” Aug. 26). You are right that “there is no real moral justification for… combat if it is not to defend the rule of law.” There are many of us who believe that war is never the answer in the first place. Diana Perry Berkeley, Calif.

The day I received your issue on the war crimes committed in Afghanistan, the press released newly acquired videos of members of Al Qaeda asphyxiating a dog with poison gas to test its lethality as a chemical weapon. I watched in horror as that poor animal tried to free itself of the rope around its neck and struggled to breathe. After I read your article, I felt nothing but relief knowing that there are fewer of these kinds of people around. It may not be politically correct to say so, but frankly, I have no sympathy for the suffering of the Taliban. I save those feelings for that dog. Nancy L. Russ Silver Spring, Md.

You’re right: it’s not easy to feel sympathy for the Taliban prisoners. Every time I wait in line to board a flight, or know a loved one is traveling, I am reminded of September 11. I detest the demons who performed this unspeakable evil against us. I don’t feel sorry when something bad happens to them or their abettors. Terry Smith Jacksonville, Fla.

I could not finish your article describing the agonizing death of hundreds of young men cramped in hot, airless containers. No man or beast deserves to die so cruelly. I’m also brought to tears when watching scenes of young American men losing their lives on the beaches of Normandy during World War II. Taliban or American, most of those who die in wars are the young and innocent who believe they are fighting for a just cause. The criminals are the ones who send them to their deaths. J. R. Kibodeaux Houston, Texas

I find it very hard to feel sorry for the “surrendered Taliban” who were asphyxiated. How many women have the Taliban murdered? How many lost their livelihoods because they were not allowed to work? How many suffered from humiliation, a lack of education and who knows what other traumas? These Taliban prisoners almost certainly took part in the gender apartheid mandated by their version of Islam. At the very least, they knew what was happening to their mothers and sisters. Perhaps the punishment fits the crime. Barbara Ardinger Long Beach, Calif.

As a spiritual-minded American, I was appalled to read of the Nazi-like torture (and murder) of prisoners in Afghanistan. Some Americans may believe that all is fair in love and war, but this attitude is surely not one inspired by God. It is instead an attitude of revenge that propels the cycle of war and war crimes from one generation to the next. The truly righteous do not enjoy others’ misery or their deaths. I hope others share my horror at the atrocities committed against any human being. Compassion is the ultimate lesson that “kills” sin of any variety. John C. Manigaulte Kings Park, N.Y.

The largely sensationalistic tone of your article “The Death Convoy of Afghanistan” may leave your readers with some serious misconceptions. While the authors state that NEWSWEEK found nothing to indicate that American forces “had advance knowledge of the killings, witnessed the prisoners being stuffed into the unventilated trucks or were in a position to prevent that,” there are several insinuations by the authors that would lead readers to believe otherwise. Once the Department of Defense learned of these allegations, commanders at all levels were asked if the reports were accurate. Thorough debriefing of teams on the ground revealed no evidence of any human-rights violations or witnessing of them by U.S. forces. Despite the authors’ claims of obfuscation by DOD personnel, that information was repeatedly provided. I take particular exception to your allegation that official Defense Department spokespersons would deliberately provide false and misleading statements to NEWSWEEK or any other medium. It should also be noted that a significant media presence was in the vicinity throughout this period with no reporting of the alleged atrocities. Victoria Clarke Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs U.S. Department of Defense Washington, D.C.

Editor’s note: NEWSWEEK thoroughly documented the Defense Department’s response to our reporting in the story. We stand by our report.

It’s a Hard Doc Life

Thank you, NEWSWEEK and Mary K. Moore, for highlighting the vicissitudes of medical-residency training (“Fitting Our Marriage in Between Beeps,” My Turn, Aug. 26). During my internship I started falling asleep in restaurants with my mouth full, then progressed to falling asleep at the wheel, eventually totaling my car. If prisoners, who have harmed society, were asked to work 80-hour weeks and 36-hour shifts, there would be a huge cry from human-rights organizations. Why then must residents–who act to support society–work similar, if not worse, hours? With as many as 90,000 deaths per year due to medical error, and fatigue the primary cause of impaired judgment, it would at least behoove our patients, if not our residents, to mandate legal limitations to their work hours. Jordan Fieldman, M.D. Pittsfield, Mass.

As a physician married to a physician, I can empathize with Mary K. Moore. But while residency is certainly hard work, her plea for sympathy is a bit misguided. Residency hours are long because there is a tremendous amount of knowledge that must be acquired in a short amount of time. Restrictions are already being enacted to limit residents’ working hours, but the only way to truly shorten hours is to extend the length of residency training. Patients don’t conveniently become ill, go into labor or require surgery only during normal business hours. My medical degree was conferred with both “privileges and obligations.” As physicians we are privileged to enter into our patients’ lives and obligated to provide them with the best care possible, including being there when they need us. Moore seems to expect the privileges for her husband without the obligations. Kristin K. Elliott, M.D. Marquette, Mich.

(No) Parenting for Dummies

Cheers to Anna Quindlen for her straightforward words about what is required of people when they become parents (“In Search of a Grown-Up,” The Last Word, Aug. 26). As a psychotherapist working with childhood-trauma survivors, I see in my clients the results of parenting gone seriously awry. Most of my clients have rarely or never experienced having another human being set aside his or her own concerns or pleasure so as to focus on them. This is the essence of good parenting, and it is a necessary component of successful development. If that doesn’t occur, we will get yet another generation of narcissistically disturbed people who have no clue how to be parents. Jo Nol West Simsbury, Conn.

New York Says, ‘Butts Out’

Hats off to New York’s Mayor Michael Bloomberg for his proposed deal to stamp out smoking in all restaurants and bars, parks and beaches (“The Battle Over Butts,” Aug. 26). The smoking advocates interviewed in your article were hardly convincing in their gripes defending their right to end a bad day by expelling cigarette smoke into the population’s air supply. These people don’t know a bad day until they’ve battled chemotherapy or watched a loved one they spent years poisoning with secondhand smoke choke through it. Their “right” to smoke is, at the least, the height of discourteousness. Holly Simpson Chicago, Ill.

Mayor Bloomberg has proposed making all New York City workplaces–including restaurants and bars–smoke-free. Secondhand smoke kills. Employees in restaurants and bars that permit smoking are 50 percent more likely to die of lung cancer. Just 30 minutes of exposure changes the way that blood clots and increases the risk of heart attack and stroke. Proprietors of restaurants and bars, like all employers, should make their own choices on how to conduct business–as long as their business decisions do not endanger the health of their workers. Experiences in dozens of jurisdictions across the United States show that smoke-free-workplace legislation doesn’t hurt the economy or business–except the tobacco industry’s. Thomas R. Frieden, M.D., M.P.H. Commissioner, New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene New York, N.Y.

The Other Side of Israel

I read your article “A Dangerous Place” (Aug. 26) the day after I returned from an eight-day trip to Israel. During my visit I was impressed at the spirit and fortitude of the Israelis. Though there was much debate about the current crisis, people were unified in their opposition to terrorism, and they were determined to go on with their lives. Security was efficient and omnipresent. There were no guarantees, but I felt very safe. The one sour note was that there were too few tourists. I believe we must continue to visit Israel and demonstrate that the terrorists will not achieve their goal of intimidation. Iva Lesky Ithaca, N.Y.

Your headline “A Dangerous Place” misrepresents the current realities in Israel. Like most other countries, Israel has potentially dangerous places, but also places that are exceedingly safe and secure. By drawing a monolithic picture of nonstop danger throughout Israel, you failed to convey that nuance. The 30,000 young adults from all over the world whom Birthright Israel (BRI) has taken there since 1999 appreciate that distinction. By focusing only on high-school and youth trips, you also exaggerate the number of groups canceling trips to Israel. Since the start of the Palestinian intifada two years ago, more than 15,000 Jewish young adults (18 to 26) from 25 different countries have traveled to Israel with BRI, but only after an intensive inquiry about security and after understanding the details of the stringent safety measures that BRI implements. Nearly all tell us they had the journey of a lifetime. Rabbi Sheldon Zimmerman Executive Vice President Birthright Israel USA, Inc. New York, N.Y.

Tissue Banks in a Time of Need

The first telephone call I took after the accident that claimed my daughter’s life and nearly killed my wife was from a representative of the local tissue bank. While my wife was still in surgery, and before the representative could finish his sentence, I told him that I would donate whatever my daughter still had to offer. She would not have hesitated to do so, so I was not going to either. Because of the time delay in arriving at the hospital, only Jenny’s heart valves and corneas could be salvaged. Over months we received mailings from the tissue bank, and after more than a year we finally heard that everything had been successfully implanted. Today somebody has a working heart, and two other people have working eyes, because of one very painful telephone call in the midst of our trauma. After reading your article describing the occasional problems with contaminated tissue (“Nasty Infections,” Aug. 26), I can only hope and strongly suggest that no one use this as a pretext for saying no if the time comes that he or she receives such a phone call. While there is far too little consolation in making such donations, it is the least we can do to preserve our own humanity in the face of the unthinkable. Kenneth R. Ramsley Ashland, Mass.

Making Use of Tobacco Money

Your article “The Tobacco Sham” (Aug. 19) missed an opportunity to acknowledge the states that spend a large portion of the national tobacco-settlement money as it was intended. In July, Mary–land launched an aggressive $14 million, 18-month campaign called Maryland–Smoking Stops Here. Part of a 10-year effort to fight cancer, the campaign specifically targets our youth and is aimed at reducing tobacco use and exposure to secondhand smoke. Maryland has invested significant resources from the settlement to discourage smoking, enhance enforcement of tobacco sales to minors and educate citizens about the importance of cancer screening. Maryland has one of the nation’s strongest bans on smoking in the workplace and has also raised the cigarette tax to discourage use. As a result of these and other efforts, Maryland’s teenage smoking rate is declining faster than the national average. Maryland has also committed resources to help tobacco farmers’ transition to more productive, life-sustaining crops. By using the settlement money to save lives, reduce public-health costs and promote a healthier lifestyle, Maryland’s citizens will reap great rewards. Parris N. Glendening Governor, State of Maryland Annapolis, Md.

Your article “The Tobacco Sham” missed an important point. None of North Carolina’s share from the master settlement fund was used to defray the cost of new curing bins for tobacco farmers. However, part of the fund was used to defray some of the cost of replacing open-flame curing devices, located inside curing bins, with heat exchangers. It was recently revealed that the use of heat-exchange devices rather than open-flame devices dramatically reduces a major carcinogenic compound in cured tobacco known as tobacco-specific nitrosamine. Tobacco farmers and manufacturers have thus retrofitted all tobacco-curing barns with the heat-exchange devices, at a cost that exceeded $100 million. The Flue-Cured Tobacco Cooperative Stabilization Corp. (owned by the flue-cured-tobacco farmers) and the tobacco manufacturers pitched in more than $60 million to start the retrofitting process. In addition, more than $40 million came from North Carolina’s master settlement fund. This was a major step in addressing the health risks associated with the use of tobacco. We will continue to seek any method that makes tobacco safer to consumers. Bruce L. Flye President, Flue-Cured Tobacco Cooperative Stabilization Corp. Raleigh, N.C.