U.S. wore down the Soviets

To the editor:Revisionist historians have a short grasp of the dynamics of the Cold War. The Cold War started when President Truman ordered the bomb dropped. The Soviet Union, our ally, realized it was vulnerable and began to build its own bombs. So we built bigger better bombs. So they built bigger and better bombs. And so on. Then we raced for space.

Soviet Communism was an unsustainable economic system because it stifled creative thought and removed incentives. If you can't lose your job nor progress in it, you may not try very hard. Soviet Communism was also laden with nepotism, which never works out well. The United States wore the Soviets down, almost accidentally, for 40 years. The collapse of Soviet Communism brought a whole new set of tactical problems. Instead of one predictable enemy, we now have many well-armed and independent enemies.

ANDREW HAZARD, Cape Girardeau