Sir, - With all this criticism of the United States and its role in the war against terrorism, it is difficult to imagine that some of your correspondents have actually met an American, let alone visited the US.
That country, with all its faults, is a true democracy. Through sheer hard work and imagination over two centuries, it has tried to build a society that finds solutions to the problems of the human condition. It is now wrestling with the very real danger of renewed attacks on its homeland. And it has taken on the burden of fighting an enemy that threatens us all. Just as in the pre-1939 period, the appeasers fail to see the danger of inaction.
More power to the US and its committed allies. Perhaps it is time for wavering Europeans to be grown-up enough to distinguish between right and wrong - - and show more commitment to our friends across the Atlantic? - Yours, etc.,
Kenneth Campbell, Oughterard, Co Galway.