Thank you for publishing my letter in the above regard in your previous edition, but it is always a pity when editorial prerogative leads to the distortion of views publicly expressed.
The primary purpose of my letter under your heading “US is the world’s greatest success story” (September 28) was not to sing the praises of the United States but to juxtapose its record and that of the Taliban, to establish a basis for arriving at the plea that the US deserves every support in the present confrontation. Your heading is therefore somewhat misleading as to the substantive content of the letter. Furthermore, having missed this main thrust, you made a senseless non sequitur of my last sentence as published, by excising the immediately preceding one.
May I ask that you correctly reflect my views on such a contentious matter by publishing the full last paragraph of my original letter, perhaps under a heading such as “US deserves support”? It reads as follows:
“The US remains remarkably, given its immense powers of coercion by and large a benign influence to the good, no doubt due in large measure to its exemplary constitution and culture of constitutionality. It deserves every possible support in seeking redress by all appropriate means for the atrocious attack on its heartland. The collectively aggrieved and equally threatened nations of the world should expect and indeed demand of them to do so successfully, and offer their fullest assistance.” Maritz Spaarwater, Stanford