Our nation at a crossroads By Patrick J. Wood News-Chronicle We, as a nation, are facing some major decisions that could affect how we will prevail over the long term in this complex world of ours. Currently we may be perceived as arrogant, greedy, economically and unilaterally oriented, by a number of countries in Europe, the Middle East and beyond. Without question over the past year, we have been attacked, and we have been hurt. We feel vulnerable in many areas because so much tragedy and travesty has occurred within our boundaries and in such swift succession. First there was 9-11. After 9-11, we experienced the anthrax mailings. After the anthrax mailings, we experienced the corporate implosions of fraud, theft and imprisonment of CEOs and their minions while many Americans saw their life savings disintegrate before their eyes. Psychologically we have been devastated, and this has had a profound effect on how we view and treat foreign countries as well as how they view and treat us. Currently there appears to be a strong Bush administration desire to cause a regime change in Iraq at all costs under the notion the current dictator is developing weapons of mass destruction. This allegation may or may not be true. It could be true based on Hussein's past use of chemical weapons on his own people, among other murderous atrocities, as well as his steadfast refusal to work with UN weapons inspectors. It may not be true because no tangible proof has yet been produced. The United States, as the undisputed military and economic power of the world, should use prudence and world consensus in any warring actions it takes against any nation. Yes, in the short term we can act unilaterally and certainly win against a country like Iraq or any other for that matter. But in the long term the fallout, including the loss of respect and cooperation from other nations, could be immense. If, however, we wield our enormous power in conjunction with the United Nations, we can probably accomplish many of the same objectives while earning a great deal of respect among our peers. In the end we need to ask ourselves - do we want to be the world leader filled with wisdom and vision, or do we want to be the world bully ready to fight and conquer whenever an entity doesn't comply with our wishes? Patrick J. Wood is associate publisher of The News-Chronicle.