<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> <META content="MSHTML 5.50.4916.2300" name=GENERATOR> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY bgColor=#ffffff> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><A href="http://nytimes.com/2002/09/07/opinion/L07LIBE.html">http://nytimes.com/2002/09/07/opinion/L07LIBE.html</A></FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>One letter copied below, there are 4 in all, all criticising the smear job against opponents of bombing Afghanistan last fall:</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV>To the Editor: <P>Todd Gitlin (Op-Ed, Sept. 5) caricatures "the American left" as a foil for his supposedly more tough-minded liberal analysis of American foreign policy. As a traveler in those circles, I can say that a main concern expressed after Sept. 11 was that the Bush administration would use the attacks to carve out a far broader latitude for the assertion of American power in the world.</P> <P>Is that not precisely what we are seeing now, in the president's advocacy of a pre-emptive, and perhaps unilateral, strike against Iraq? Sometimes the left actually does get it right. ?<BR>PATRICK YOUNG<BR>Jamaica Plain, Mass., Sept. 5, 2002<BR></P> <P><FONT face=Arial size=2>more letters at  <A href="http://nytimes.com/2002/09/07/opinion/L07LIBE.html">http://nytimes.com/2002/09/07/opinion/L07LIBE.html</A></FONT></P></DIV></BODY></HTML>