Superman analogy just doesn’t fly

Re “Look! Up in the sky! It’s America!” Opinion, July 31

At a time when hundreds of civilians in Lebanon and Israel are dying in what could possibly turn into an even bloodier, wider regional conflict, Niall Ferguson attempts to explain the role of the United States in the current geopolitical crisis via an analogy -- to Superman. His attempt to elucidate his central premise, that the U.S., like Superman, is reluctant to use its “superpowers” doesn’t survive a moment’s scrutiny.

Was the Bush administration “reluctant” to invade Iraq? Is the Bush administration’s ostensible reluctance to broker a cease-fire in Lebanon akin to some character defect afflicting Superman? Or is it because the U.S. is overextended militarily, economically and politically in Iraq? Ferguson’s assertion that the U.S. has the “mind-boggling firepower ... to incinerate Iran and North Korea in an afternoon” is frightening.

ED WATTERS

Woodland Hills

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Thank God British Prime Minister Tony Blair doesn’t share the rest of Europe’s view of America. He is the only one who sees the world for what it really is: a very dangerous place where people want to see Americans and supporters of America dead. It doesn’t surprise me that people around the world view America as a bigger threat than Iran or North Korea. There are people in America that share the same opinion; I call them “liberals.”

Where is the real Superman when you need him?

BRET P. WALLACH

Hicksville, N.Y.