Sir, - There has been a good deal of comment, both in your pages and in other sections of the media, on the American administration's use of the word crusade to describe its intended response to the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington. Many feel that this caused an unnecessary confrontation with Islam in general.
I would prefer to be a little more charitable and believe that the word was chosen very deliberately to imply that Osama bin Laden was the primary target. Bin Laden's organisation, al-Qae'da, is also known as the World Islamic Front for the Jihad Against Jews and Crusaders, and thus the reference was unmistakeable.
Similiarly I'm intrigued by the designation by the United States of the counter-offensive against Bin Laden specifically and international terrorism in general as "Infinite Justice".
Nearly 2068 years ago, after the terrorist pirate Athenodorus sacked Aegina and Delos, Pompeius was given proconsular power over the whole of the Mediterranean, for three years, by a proclamation of the Roman tribune Gabinius in order that he might rid the seas of the terrorist scourge of piracy. This empowerment was known as the "imperium infinitum" or "The Infinite Right of a State to Enforce its Laws". Pompeius was very successful and achieved his purpose in a co-ordinated plan involving vassal and allied states.
However, showing remarkable understanding and compassion, he recognised that for many of the pirates, the causes of their involvement was economic misery. He tried to ensure that effective measures were put in place to improve the conditions of the people and thus remove the temptation to turn to piracy and terrorism.
The Bush administration must recognise that over the past 30 years fundamentalist Islamic movements, such as bin Laden's, or Sheik al-Rahman's Gama's al-Islamiya, to name but two, have provided a focus for the dissatisfaction of many people living in miserable conditions throughout Islam. The US response, and that of America's vassals and allies, whatever it be called, must include not only very specific objectives but more importantly have a clear exit strategy that addresses the causes of fundamentalist apostasy and terrorising fanaticism.
Counteracting terror with terror, for terror's sake alone, will achieve little except misery for all of humanity. - Yours, etc.,
Roger Derham, Blake's Hill, Galway.