Stephen Kinzer reveals the shocking truth about foreign military interventions: They’re messy affairs that entangle the United States with dictatorships and often do more harm than good (“Thinning flock, still full of hawks,’’ Ideas, March 20).

Reciting the pitfalls of intervention is easy; the challenge is knowing when they’re outweighed by the risks of inaction.

The left’s anti-warriors of course favor inaction under all circumstances and can barely register the idea of real people thinking otherwise. The electoral majority determined that America “must guide the world’’ resides entirely in Kinzer’s imagination. For all our foreign policy missteps, America’s actual role since World War II has less resembled an imperialist bully (where is the stolen land, the stolen oil, the stolen anything?) than a reluctant sheriff who stands against outlaws because no one else can or will.

The current badge wearer is more reluctant than most, having publicly welcomed a smaller role in the global order. If Americans eventually connect that approach to the ongoing mayhem in the Middle East, they may look for more assertiveness from the next administration. If the chaos spills over again into Europe and the United States, they will demand it.

Michael Smith, Cynthiana, Ky.