EDITOR: In his letter to the editor in the May 6 edition
“Who is asking the United States to take on responsibility of
being world’s policeman?” Jim Werkema poses a question for me which
deserves an answer, namely “Whose responsibility is it to police
the world?”
EDITOR:
In his letter to the editor in the May 6 edition “Who is asking the United States to take on responsibility of being world’s policeman?” Jim Werkema poses a question for me which deserves an answer, namely “Whose responsibility is it to police the world?”
Robert Mitchell, in response to a recent letter attacking one of his columns in The Times, observed that no one asked the United States to intervene in the Iraqi government and asked when it became the responsibility of the United States to police the world.
Saddam Hussein’s government had to be deposed of, but the Middle Eastern states (the likely candidates to carry out any such action) lacked both the capacity and resolve to do so. No, the United States does not have the duty or right to rid the world of evil people. Its launch of Operation Iraqi Freedom probably created a great deal of anti-Americanism. However, Saddam Hussein was a serious threat to both the United States and Middle East (his support of Palestinian suicide bombers augmented the unrest in that region).
He was a danger to hundreds of millions of people and he needed to be stripped of his power one way or another.
Kate Haberland, Morgan Hill
