AMERICAN HUBRIS AND HISTORY

Brunswick, Me.

Robert Jay Lifton, in "American Apocalypse" [Dec. 22], brilliantly articulates the psychic and political errors of our current policies--that omnipotence creates insecurity and that military occupation breeds precisely the terrorism it is meant to extirpate. In a Sophoclean or Shakespearean drama such hubris would bring disaster, as it may yet in the less tidy space of history. Is there not, though, a benefit? Our military overcommitment may force us to accept a diplomatic solution to the issue of North Korean nuclear arms, which we could have had two years ago had Bush not needed another rogue nation to fill out his "axis of evil." Furthermore, the misadventure in Iraq may cause future leaders to hesitate in the face of "military solutions," as did the debacle in Vietnam until recently. On the other hand, our overreaching this time will be more difficult to resolve than it was in Vietnam. There, at least, we always had someone with whom to negotiate "peace with honor."

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