TODAY'S LETTERS: Military Suicides, Bob Dylan, Scott McClellan and Bilal Hussein

By: E&P Staff Readers wrote in about military suicides, the Bob Dylan biopic and Scott McClellan and the AP's stance on Bilal Hussein.

Who Will Probe 'Noncombat' Deaths in Iraq?
Gimme a break. The guys who commit suicide would probably do the same in any type of tough situation, whether it be war or bad times at home.

This is a volunteer ARMY. If you're not willing or able to fight and serve overseas, don't join the army. People are just looking for any reason to blast America's military forces.

Army Mom


Bob Dylan Film
I loved the scorcese film so I won't bother with the Haynes flick. You picked out my favorite lines, by the way.

Bud Buckley


As a Dylan fan for over 40 years I enjoyed the film immensely. It would very confusing to anyone not familar with the intracacies of Dylan's career. I would have preferred a chronological approach to this biopic.

Bruce S.


Really interesting article but you seem to miss the point of Haynes's movie. The Dylan who talks in sardonic riddles to the London press in 1965 is no more the 'real' Dylan than the man who told his audience they were living thru the final days, and they were going to straight to Hell if they did not accept Jesus. (Dylan preached like this from the stage between November 1978 and April 1980.) I liked the way Haynes's film juggled all the pieces but did not attempt to make them add up.

For example, the film dramatises the moment where Pete Seeger is so angry with the sound of Dylan's electric band at Newport in 1965 that he seizes an axe and tries to sever the power cables. Then Albert Grossman grabs him and the two of them wrestle in the dirt. Now I've read a lot of books about Newport (eg Joe Boyd's White Bicycles) and it's clear that Seeger never did this, nevertheless this was a story that I heard about Newport. It's part of the myth. In the same spirit, Haynes's film has a shot of Dylan and his band machine gunning the audience.

If you just want the facts, stick to Howard Sounes's biography and Scorsese's film. But Haynes's film says much about why the shape-shifting Dylan was never trapped by the cliches of popular culture. Re-inventing himself when they tried to label him "Voice of a generation" "Rock & roll rebel" He became a good ol' boy from Nashville when that was not fashionable (Oh me oh my, love that country pie), a Born Again Christian. A prince of grunge and many more.

Mick Gold


Uproar Over McClellan Statement on Plame Case Grows -- Even Judith Miller Weighs In
Scott McClellan is a bit late with his confession of aiding and abetting the president and his entourage in their efforts to lie their way out a burgeoning fiasco. He should have done the honorable thing when he was pressed to commit what, in a court of law, might have been deemed perjury. In his mea culpa, he does say that he felt uneasy when asked to try to convince the media that those in high places were being unjustly accused of fabrication. The fact that the president may have assured him it was the proper thing to do does not get him off the hook. He'd been on the White House team long enough to be able smell a dead fish when he asked to say it was fresh from the nearest brook.

You have to have had experience in government to know the unsettling feeling that comes over you when you are told "the President wants this" or "the White House wants that." McClellan clearly could not resist the driving urge to respond promptly to demands from on high, regardless of qualms he may have had.


Wes Pedersen
Chevy Chase, Md.


Curley Reveals Military Stonewalling on Photog's Case
I am at a loss here. For months I have been reading that the military should not be conducting trials because Iraq has a democratically elected government. Now the military is allowing the Iraqi justice system to handle the decision and prosecution of Hussein and the AP does not want that they want the military to just release him without verifying whether he is a terrorist or not.

The AP is also complaining that the military refuses to release the evidence of MR Hussein?s guilt but you know if they did release proof of his guilt to the media they would complain the military was trying to convict him through the media.

I agree that 19 months is too long to wait for a trial and if innocent he should get a quick trial and release. If on the other hand he is guilty perhaps a deferred trial is keeping him alive longer than he would be if he already had a trial.

It seems to me the AP is trying to establish some type of Diplomatic Immunity for their employees. Quite frankly, that is very egotistical of them as it is not deserved.



David J Horchak
Houston