US generosity

In his reply to R. Sacco, Oliver Zscherpe from Germany (October 25) forgot to mention one important factor which helped his country recover from the ruins of the second world war to become an economically powerful country.

This is the massive economic aid that the US injected into Europe, including Germany under the Marshall Aid Plan. At the same time it provided military protection from aggression from the former communist empire.

Had it not been for this American generosity I am sure that Mr Sacco would have had a different story to write about. A far cry from Mr Zscherpe's assertion that America is envious seeing Europe united.

America never had expansionist ambitions. It had every right to occupy those countries, which it defeated, but instead it helped them to gain their prosperity as in the case of Germany and the rest of Europe.

Many countries still appreciate this gesture while others want to demonstrate their newly found prowess by criticising and opposing anything that America does.

In spite of whatever Mr Sacco thinks, Europe still depends to a large extent on the US both commercially and militarily. When America sneezes all Europe catches a cold. This is why Europe, especially Germany, is passing through difficult times, because the American economy is not doing well at the present time.

Whether America's invasion of Iraq was to remove the evil of Saddam Hussein's dictatorship, or for its oil, only time will tell. The billions of dollars that America is pumping into Iraq for its reconstruction does not seem that this is a gainful venture as it was not when Americans shed their blood to liberate Europe from the evil of Nazism.

Germany owes a lot of its present prosperity to the generosity of the American people. That is why many expected it to show gratitude by showing restraint and being more sympathetic to America's action in Iraq, instead of putting spokes in the wheels.