War and Terror

Kept away from the keyboard first by the Midnight Marathon and now by this. The desire exists - so many things happening out there - but somehow posting just doesn't happen.

Today I found two letters to the editor which I agree with:

Terrorism is to be condemned vehemently as it is a menace against humanity. But if one takes a look at the countries targeted for terror attacks, one can see a pattern. The Islamist terrorists target only the U.S. and its supporters. I worked in Jordan for a while and I have personally seen the plight of Palestinians who have been driven away from their homes. Their homes are just 50-100 km away from where they live but they cannot go there. The Glasgow incident is the result of such skewed policies of the west. Terrorism cannot be eliminated unless the world shows compassion for the sufferers.

N. Ramakrishnan , Richards Bay, South Africa.

True, most of the terrorist acts are perpetrated by young, misguided, hardcore members of a particular community. But it is also true that the majority belonging to the same community is law-abiding and is in no way responsible for the acts of the few. To tar an entire community with the same brush, therefore, is not only wrong but inhuman. The best ways of tackling terrorism are to strengthen and modernise our police forces and adhere strictly to the principle of secularism.

Baikadi Suryanarayana Rao, Bangalore

And it is irritating when people say that the 'misguided' youth 'misinterpreted' their religious teachings. Where does religion come into it? As far as I can see, the motivation is entirely political. The younger Bush and the older Blair declared a war on terror which somehow is a war solely against Islamic people. And these suicide bombers may be thinking that they are on the other side in this war.