Sir, - John de Courcy Ireland's letter of November 19th offends by the virulence of its anti-American sentiments. How can such a distinguished marine historian go so far as to assert that United States governments have "caused more suffering through warlike acts than any other in the past 200 years"? Has Nazi Germany's wartime record escaped his notice? Has he never heard of the Soviet Union's subjugation of Eastern Europe and the Baltic States?
The US's foreign policies might sometimes appear questionable - for example, the duration of its Cuban sanctions and until recently its over-ready support for Israel. It would be difficult, however, to maintain that the US has wilfully inflicted great suffering upon other nations.
Moreover, American generosity to defeated enemies is legendary; witness such measures as the Marshall Plan, the Fulbright Program and the other forms of economic aid and technical assistance extended to former foes and Cold War adversaries and designed to relieve hardship and assist in the regeneration of their battered economies.
Selfish motives tend invariably to be suspected by someone or other, however altruistic or enlightened the actual objectives of US intervention. And the slightest inadvertent civilian casualties in necessary military operations will be portrayed as a crime against humanity. It just goes to show how thankless a task world leadership can be.
It is to be hoped that pejorative references to its policing and hortatory initiatives as bullying will not deter the US from exercising its international authority for the common good. It is hard to envisage a worse scenario for the world's future than one involving a US retreat into isolationism. - Yours, etc., Jack N. Lewis,
Coliemore Road, Dalkey, Co Dublin.