Regarding Helen Array's Nov. 18 letter, "Overweening pride that baffles": I would like to say that Array is the ignorant one when she declares that Americans are slandering other countries. Recently on CNN I saw a Myanmar citizen begging for America's help. Watch Roberto Benigni's "La Vita E Bella (Life Is Beautiful)" to get an idea of what Europe's fate would have been without America's help. Japan's fate, too.
Try to insult a Muslim country as Array does America in her letter and you would be living in terror. Democracy is incompatible with authoritarianism. I don't know where Array comes from, but if she's an American, she should reflect more! (I'm Italian.) How lucky it is to be able to speak out as one likes, to dress as one likes, to go to college, to travel without a man's permission, or not to have to undergo infibulation. Even though America is not perfect, it has my gratitude!