US policy is against volatility
I was puzzled by Stavros Lygeros’s editorial on «US unilateralism» (September 27) when he claimed the United States prefers volatility. I can assure you that no American nor any American administration would like to see another September 11 attack in the US or anywhere else. Volatility serves no other purpose but to create uncertainty, which is dangerous to Western security as well as to the global economic system. In fact, volatility is exactly what terrorists strive for, and the current American administration, together with our allies, are combating. In addition, the world institutional framework that Mr Lygeros refers to does not have the authority or the mandate to prevent countries from defending themselves. Make no mistake about it, any future attack most likely would be against the United States, not Europe, and certainly not Greece. Americans are not going to wait for the next attack to do something. And we definitely are not going to wait for the United Nations to act responsibly for very long. After September 11, we as Americans consider ourselves at war. And as Clausewitz famously remarked, «War is such a dangerous business that the mistakes which come from kindness are the very worst.» This war must end, in fact, the way all successful American wars against fundamentally opposed ideologies have ended in the past: One side must win, totally. And being good Americans, we must leave the world a better place so that September 11 does not happen again. EVAN A. LAMBROS, Washington Crossing, Pennsylvania.
