Letters, Dec. 18, 1995

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BURDENS OF WAR

"If one U.S. peacekeeper were to die, it would not be for Bosnia but for peace throughout the world and America's ability to maintain it." IRVIN GASSENHEIMER JR. Montgomery, Alabama

GLOBAL LEADERSHIP IS BOTH THE PRICE America pays [COVER STORIES, Nov. 27] and the benefit Americans derive from our affluence, our size and our strength. Worldwide hunger and poverty, the spread of nuclear weapons and the proliferation of violent conflicts harm us all. Economic development, better education, better control of arms, cooperation among nations and the peaceful resolution of conflicts help Americans enjoy greater prosperity and peace. Positive and active engagement in world affairs is the smart as well as the right thing for the U.S. to do. Yet among developed nations, America has become the least generous provider of either development aid or troops for peacekeeping. Our virtue is fading.

A few of the Founding Fathers, as indicated in your story "Uncertain Beacon," may have expressed isolationist views, but many of the early patriots were vigorous internationalists. Benjamin Franklin said, "Our cause is the cause of all mankind." Thomas Paine, the fervently religious man who gave us the name United States of America, said, "My country is the world." Today that spirit is not just noble; it is imperative. CHARLES F. DAMBACH, Chairman Coalition for American Leadership Abroad Washington

THE CRITICAL QUESTION IS, WOULD SENDing Americans to die in Bosnia have any long-term beneficial effect on the local inhabitants or on the U.S.? If the answer is no, then why are we sending them? There is no military mission or goal to be achieved by American troops in Bosnia, just as there was no mission or goal in Vietnam. The religious hatreds and the war in Bosnia have been ongoing for hundreds of years. Putting American kids in the path of certain death and injury will not accomplish a thing. The most American troops could accomplish would be to halt the genocide to some degree until our troops leave, and they will leave as soon as the public sees them dying on the nightly television news. Then the killing and the hatred will resume again, and American kids will have died for nothing. JOHN B. CURRY III Belchertown, Massachusetts Via E-mail

I AM A WORLD WAR II SURVIVOR WHO WAS drafted at 16 and was decorated with the Iron Cross. I ended up in Hitler's bunker as one of his last couriers. Not until I saw documentaries about the concentration camps and followed the Nuremberg trials did I realize the extent of the Nazi war crimes and recognize there were millions of innocent victims. We should not ask if Bosnia is worth dying for, but instead ask if thousands of innocent people, mostly women and children, are worth protecting. I wish that I had had the chance of putting my life on the line as a peacekeeper instead of being forced to fight for a dictator who turned out to be one of the biggest mass murderers of all time. ARMIN DIETER LEHMANN Waldport, Oregon