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Many of the al-Qaeda terrorists come from countries that get billions in Western aid money and whose economies are sustained by Western dependence on oil and gas [TERRORISM, Oct. 29]. Still the terrorists blame Americans because we are prosperous while they are not. They take no responsibility for building their own successful societies; they just want to destroy ours. Fundamentalist societies breed fanatics because we give them the means. It is time for the West to develop viable, sustainable alternatives to oil and gas. HELEN STUTCHBURY San Diego
Americans are being asked to ante up and contribute to victim-relief funds and to go shopping as part of our patriotic duty to keep the economy moving. Yet corporate America is laying off workers by the thousands, and companies are falling all over one another asking that taxpayers bail them out. But corporations aren't offering to donate anthrax medicine to the American people or to keep their workers employed as part of their patriotic duty. We Americans are the dumbest people in the world if we don't demand some solidarity and contribution from the business community in this time of national crisis. MEG CORWIN Timnath, Colo.
First in Line
Re "Smallpox Vaccines For Everyone" [TERRORISM, Oct. 29], I have a thought (a selfish one, since I am a nurse): perhaps we should inoculate the health-care workers first, since we will be treating critically ill patients, should the unthinkable occur. And we know it can. ANNA GOYETTE New York City
Promoting Peace
There is a kind of shallow patriotism going around, beating the drums of war and attacking all those who dare question U.S. military operations [THE WAR, Oct. 29]. But there is a deeper kind of patriotism. Perhaps compassion and humanitarian aid are the most effective tools we have in combatting terrorism. If retaliation and violence were truly effective tools, Israelis would be the most secure people in the world. What are we doing to promote peace and understanding with the Muslim world? What are we doing to reduce the hatred directed at us by all those nonterrorist Muslims who admire Osama bin Laden? JIM ANDERSON Snohomish, Wash.
The U.S. lost its moral high ground the moment we started terrorizing and killing innocent civilians in our bombing raids. Let's honor the victims of this war by returning to peace and not following the terrorists' path of more senseless death and destruction. JAMILA LARSON Washington
The Burdens of Power
Why has America generated such dislike in parts of the world [THE WAR, Oct. 29]? The simple answer is that hatred comes with the territory of being a superpower. America will be blamed for all the world's woes and faults, regardless of the circumstances. That is the burden of world power. In my youth, when Britain was forever being censured by people around the globe, I came to understand the futility of trying to refute the accusations. America will never be able to answer these mostly groundless charges. Even the Marshall Plan was portrayed as economic imperialism in many so-called seats of learning in Britain. The very success of America arouses suspicion. Most countries see prosperity as the result of patronage or corruption. America will have to realize that even providing aid will generate envy. KEN BOOTH Littleborough, England