Paul Hattan’s letter to the editor (Sept. 21) was impassioned and brought up some important issues.

Unfortunately, it was also off the mark.

Hattan is correct that the United States has much to be ashamed of. We have bumbled our way through misguided international policies and actions; policies that have caused unnecessary hardship and misery both home and abroad.

It is also true that our actions had a hand in creating the terrorist threat that now confronts us. Sadly ironic? Of course. A wake-up call for smarter policies in the future? Most definitely.

What Hattan evidently doesn’t get is that all of these are separate issues from the threat that is knocking on our door.

Past actions don’t change the fact that we now face extremists who actively seek to kill tens of thousands of civilians, and are capable of doing so.

Civilians such as those in the World Trade Center who were overwhelmingly unaware of and divorced from U.S. foreign policy details.

And let’s not forget that hundreds of citizens from other countries were killed in the attacks as well.

I am one of the most liberal, progressive people I know. Yet, I also know that sometimes, you only have bad choices. No, I don’t want to see more people killed (American or otherwise).

It is only because I have no doubt that the alternative would be worse that I say we must defend ourselves, using every law-enforcement, diplomatic, economic and military option available. Yes, we must be smart about our reaction, with an eye towards collateral effects and long-term results. But failing to stop these people simply isn’t an option.

Finally, I don’t think most of us dream this will be a quick, costless, bloodless campaign. This is very nasty stuff. Many lives will most likely be lost, some of them innocent. The thing Mr. Hattan really misses, though, is that the death and destruction isn’t over, regardless. No one who hates enough to deliberately target more than 50,000 innocent people is about to quit now.

How many innocent lives should we sacrifice for moral perfection?

Jonathan Williams

Graduate

Electrical engineering