Letters.(Letter to the Editor)

In his Nov. 5 article "Your Papers, Please," John Derbyshire just does not appreciate what is a reality in this country: Anyone who has a credit card is already part of a national database, a database that the federal government can access. His argument about privacy is moot nonsense. And Alan Dershowitz should not be brought into the discussion. He flunked Constitutional Law 101 when he could not figure out why the Supreme Court took up the case of court shenanigans in Florida.

Hank Nizko

Melbourne, Fla.

While glorifying Harry Truman has become popular these days, trying to find a "parallel" between Korea and the September 11 disasters shouldn't obscure history. Andrew J. Bacevich ("What It Takes," Oct. 15) seems aware of President Truman's pre-Korea lack of political will, but then backs off and ignores Truman's essential role in inviting the Korean War in the first place. Bacevich's Monday-morning "larger strategic context" cannot resurrect a less-than-creditable performance by Mr. "Buck Stops Here" Truman, and history should so record. We should be leery of Bacevich's apparent yen for globalization or American empire as the answer to the world's ills.

W. Edward Chynoweth

Sanger, Calif.

In his Oct. 15 piece, "The Western Edge," Arthur Herman (and possibly the book's author, Victor Davis Hanson) misses one dramatic counter- example to the claim of Western military dominance: the Mongol war machine. During the reign of Ogedei Khan, Mongol armies repeatedly routed every European military force they met. After his death, the tide from the Asian steppes receded from central Europe, but stayed in part of eastern Europe for centuries. Another power that repeatedly enjoyed success against the European military was the Ottoman Turks, but no power so badly manhandled the Western military as the Mongols.