Spy Novelist Ventures Into the U.S. Campaign

Re “If Le Carre Could Vote,” Commentary, Oct. 20: John Le Carre used to write great spy novels, classics really. Then he started preaching his political point of view and his novels became boring and predictable. Why can’t novelists write, actors act, musicians play, divas sing, but just shut up when it comes to their political points of view? How about equal time for another novelist, say Christopher Buckley? Or would that have too much relevance because, after all, he can vote.

Bill Fallon

Newport Beach

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Having just returned from Europe, I encountered the same contempt for President Bush and his policies wherever I traveled. Europeans cannot understand the great concern in this country for the rights of the unborn fetus, while 45 million Americans have no health insurance. Le Carre lays it all out in his article -- Bush has made the rich richer and the poor and unemployed more numerous, swept aside our civil liberties, taken us into a war based on lies and cooked the books to bury the horrendous deficits.

Have Americans been so brainwashed by Bush’s and Cheney’s lies and fear-mongering that many cannot see that “the emperor has no clothes”? I hope that after Nov. 2, a new president will be able to begin to repair the damages done by the Bush administration to our relationships with our European allies and to reverse the grave damages done to us here at home.

Margery Gould

Los Angeles

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Going to a spy novelist for an opinion on what to do in Iraq is like going to the cast of “ER” for brain surgery. L.A. Times, you’ve lost all credibility.

Steve Stillman

Redondo Beach

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As a fellow Brit (in origin, at least), I applaud Le Carre’s forthright statement of his opinion on the American political scene. Given the disproportionate influence the country now exerts throughout the globe, it is appropriate that we get to hear the voice of non-Americans.

Peter Clothier

Los Angeles