Rockwell on U.S.

* As a former history major, I consider it a crime to make an inaccurate historical reference. As a proud patriot, I consider it a crime to underestimate the U.S.’ role as leader of the free world.

Llewellyn H. Rockwell Jr. (Column Right, April 15) is guilty on both counts. To compare the U.S. government’s feelings of American moral, economic and military supremacy to the Third Reich’s is outrageous. And although Rockwell’s comparison of the U.S. to the Roman Empire is accurate, it only discredits his assertions. When that entity, which lasted just over 500 years, finally fell, it plunged most of the known world into the Dark Ages, an epoch of unprecedented chaos and instability. That’s exactly what would happen if the U.S. were to fall.

MICHAEL ANTHONY GATTO

Los Angeles