In his Sept. 27 letter, Dan Schroeder sure does seem to like using the word “evil,” but I think it’s a little vague. Let’s be specific here: World War II was fought mostly against Nazi Germany and Imperialist Japan. On Sept.11, we were attacked by Osama bin Laden and his supporters. I think most people would agree with me when I say those groups did terrible things, and stopping them was/is the right thing to do.

But when we extend the hunt for Osama bin Laden and his goons to include everything that can be shoved into the categories of terrorism or evil, it’s easy to get distracted.

Mr. Schroeder asks us not to forget what happened on Sept. 11, but it seems he has. We were attacked by Osama bin Laden, and we resolved to find him and bring him and his supporters to justice.

Instead, the resources that could be used to find Osama are spent on Iraq because Saddam was evil too, and that’s apparently close for some people. Yes, maybe they are both evil, but capturing Saddam is not the same as capturing Osama, not even a little bit. Whether or not toppling Saddam was justice, it’s not the justice the families of the Sept. 11 victims deserve.

We have to pick our battles carefully because there is a lot of evil out there and —superpower or not — we can’t fight it all.

Ridding the world of Osama seems worth the cost. But that doesn’t mean we can, or should, make fighting every single bit of evil our primary concern.

Brian Lund

Senior

Computer Engineering