Bin Laden speaks

Regarding "Bin Laden urges Iraqi insurgents to coalesce" (Oct. 23): I have read the text of Osama bin Laden's latest release. Have you ever noticed that when a religious leader of any faith publicly proclaims to have had contact with God that he wants something from you?

Here in the United States when the television preachers tell us that they know what God wants us to do, there is a direct appeal to our pocket right behind it.

Bin laden is the same.

The only difference is that he does not want money from Muslims, he wants their lives.

Brett Hollis Chula Vista, California

Return the marbles

Feature articles by Nicolai Ouroussoff are always an exquisite reading pleasure.

In "A museum's dialogue with antiquity" (Oct. 31) the reader is immediately overwhelmed by the amazing way with which the Swiss-born architect, Bernard Tschumi, succeeded in blending the new museum with the landscape of the Acropolis.

In this context, the sad story of the Elgin Marbles is so poignant that you cannot escape feeling that the sculptures should be returned to Greece as soon as possible.

Ouroussoff's narrative may be the most convincing and telling piece of evidence in the case for returning this looted art. I hope his plea will be heard.

Andreas Steck Bottmingen, Switzerland

I commend Nicolai Ouroussoff for his superb article. It is rare that I come across an architectural review that conveys such a sense of life and emotion.

I can't decide now if I must go see the museum or if I feel like I have already been there.

Joel Simon, Paris

Doing the right thing

Regarding the article "Blackwater guards got immunity offers" (Oct. 31): As a career U.S. diplomat, I was very distressed to read that the Blackwater USA employees who killed unarmed civilians in Iraq likely will escape prosecution.

I was especially outraged when I read of the conviction, with a prison sentence, of a U.S. military officer in Guantánamo for leaking the names of detainees to a human rights organization ("When conscience trumped duty," Oct. 20).

In one case, mercenaries working for the government escape responsibility for homicide. In another, a conscientious officer who tries to do the right thing is punished with imprisonment and disgrace.

Nothing could more justly expose the United States to accusations of moral bankruptcy than the different ways these two cases were handled.

David Kornbluth, Vienna