Letters

Your cover line referred to Michael Phelps as a "Pool Shark" [Aug. 9]. But just who is the "shark" these days? Granted, Phelps and other members of the U.S. Olympic team are trying to focus on the Games, but with terrorists, drug scandals, injuries, journalists, coaches and p.r. machines working in overdrive, the athletes need a break. Let them concentrate on doing their best. We shouldn't be attempting to predetermine who will make Olympic history. Kudos to all the athletes! DIANNA WERTHMULLER Fort Smith, Ark.

I was hooked when I saw your cover article on the Olympics. It is terrific to see such excellent swimmers as the U.S.'s Michael Phelps and Australia's Ian Thorpe. I was already looking forward to the Olympics this summer, but your cover photo heightened my interest. Straight guys have their annual SPORTS ILLUSTRATED Swimsuit Edition, and this year women and gay guys have the Phelps cover. Thanks for the equal-opportunity nod. FRANCISCO CONTRERAS Miami

There has been a lot of criticism of how Greece handled being host of the Olympic Games. Media reports made the situation in Athens sound dire. But at a time when the rest of the world was entering a civilized era, Greeks had already established a rich culture and accomplished better things, including the first Olympics. We Greeks are a caring people. The 2004 Games will be successful because Greeks welcome everyone from all over the world. Skeptical articles represent only a minority opinion and are not illustrative of the Greek people. GEORGE APOSTOLOPOULOS West Vancouver, B.C.

Swimmer Michael Phelps is a world-class athlete. He has also proved to be a world-class young adult and role model. Your article "Built for Speed" captured the essence of Phelps. Michael is a spokesman for the Boys & Girls Clubs of America, and he volunteers his time to kids. When a gold medal is awarded for integrity and citizenship, Michael will stand on the highest platform. DONALD MATHIS, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR BOYS & GIRLS CLUBS OF HARFORD COUNTY Aberdeen, Md.

Fighting for a Second Term

In your article "How Bush Plans To Win" [Aug. 9], you reported that Republican National Committee operatives criticized John Kerry for including only 70 words about his 19-year Senate career in his acceptance speech at the Democratic Convention. The fact that Kerry was elected to four terms indicates that Massachusetts voters feel he has represented their interests well. I eagerly await the opportunity to count how many words George W. Bush will offer on his vaunted political career. GABRIELLE S. NURRE Edgewood, N.M.

Kerry says he will respond appropriately to any attack by terrorists. Bush, however, has prevented destructive attacks by going after the terrorists. Responding or preventing? The choice is easy. PETER NORSK Nivaa, Denmark

Bush has been campaigning with the slogan "Results Matter." I want to know which results the President is talking about. Osama bin Laden is still at large, terrorism alerts continue on a regular basis (indicating we are no safer than we were before 9/11), our military is stretched thin, our intelligence services remain unreformed, gas prices have reached record highs, and our economy is limping. I can't see any positive results that have come out of the Bush Administration since the fall of the Taliban. Results do matter, but the Republicans have failed to produce any good ones. DAVID MICHAELSON New York City

Al-Qaeda's Poppy Profits

Tim McGirk's ARTICLE "Terrorism's Harvest" [Aug. 9] described how heroin trafficking is now "a principal source of funding for the Taliban and al-Qaeda terrorists." It's quite ironic that just a few months before we "liberated" Afghanistan by bombing it and sending in our troops, we gave a $43 million grant to the Taliban for its splendid job in cutting back opium production. Yes indeed, as Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld put it with unaccustomed understatement: "Democracy is untidy." Tragically, Americans, Afghans and the rest of the world are paying the price for the untidiness that we have wrought. Might there have been a better way? ROBERT G. NEWMAN, M.D., DIRECTOR BARON EDMOND DE ROTHSCHILD CHEMICAL DEPENDENCY INSTITUTE BETH ISRAEL MEDICAL CENTER New York City

President Bush says he has made America safer. But Afghanistan has been in chaos for years, and Iraq is a new breeding ground for terrorists. Now we learn that the Taliban is back and the opium trade is funding al-Qaeda. It is time that Americans look beyond tough talk. MATTHEW BALL Pittsburgh, Pa.

Speaking Frankly

I've never seen a more biased interview than Mark Thompson's "10 Questions for Tommy Franks" [Aug. 9]. Every question was a not so thinly veiled swipe at the war in Iraq and the Bush Administration, obviously designed to get Franks to agree with Thompson's views. I am thankful Franks didn't take the bait. CHRISTOPHER J. RODEL Sun Prairie, Wis.

General Franks delivered an Orwellian tour de force. In a single short interview, he blamed the Iraqis for their country's electricity shortage, even though the U.S. created the situation; said he is "very thankful" that Iraq did not possess weapons of mass destruction (WMD), even though this was one of the main justifications for the war; implied that the mere possibility that Saddam Hussein might have acquired WMD was a sufficient reason to go to war, even though such a broad premise would warrant attacking many other nations; and claimed that Saddam's regime was working with al-Qaeda operatives, even though there is no evidence for that claim. I was almost expecting Franks to announce that war is peace, freedom is slavery and ignorance is strength. DANIEL ROSE Fairlawn, Ohio

Seeing G-O-D in DNA

Only James Watson could turn the eulogy of a friend into an excuse to denigrate religion [Aug. 9]. Francis Crick's "good-natured arrogance," as Watson called it, is nothing compared with Watson's opulent truculence. Watson referred to Crick's longtime hostility to religious revelation and said his colleague viewed religion as "perpetuating mistakes from the past." Watson wrote that Crick preferred to rely on observation and experimentation. But any conclusion about the nature of truth that relies solely on observation and experimentation cannot be a valid statement if it is based on those two principles alone. C. DONALD SMEDLEY New Haven, Conn.

Watson and Crick deserve a lot of credit for their discovery of DNA's structure. There is a vast difference, however, between its original inspired design and its discovery by humans. GIDEON THOM George, South Africa