Sir, - I would like to reply to Anthony Thuillier's letter (September 29th). To use one interview as a basis to assume that Osama bin Laden is only targeting the United States is to ignore the other interviews and statements Bin Laden has made that clearly indicate his assertion that all Christians and Jews must be destroyed. He does not differentiate by country in the majority of these.
In attacking the World Trade Centre in New York City, these terrorists knew that they were not just taking American lives. It was very carefully calculated to inflict as much damage as possible on the Western world.
Mr Thuillier seems to imply that these attacks are in some way justified as retribution for US Middle East policies. The unfortunate fact is that a way of life was attacked, this way of life just happens to extend to most of the Western world.
It is not just the United States taking precautions against further acts of terror; most Western leaders recognize that their country could be next. This reality should not be confused with "avoiding introspection".
The parallels between 1930's Germany and the terrorists of today are clear to see, although obviously it is not exactly the same scenario.
The relevancy is as the Third Reich got more and more ambitious, so too has al Qaeda, firstly in Somalia, then by attacks in Saudi Arabia, Kenya, Tanzania and finally the attack on the USS Cole in Yemen last October.
With regard to freezing assets, it is also very questionable whether or not Bin Laden's assets could be frozen given that most of his money resides in Islamic banks, this echoes a familiar argument regarding the role of Swiss banks in the second World War.
The other point Mr Thuillier misses is that non-military intervention will simply not stop terrorism; unfortunately we have seen all too much proof of this over the years. Hoping that economic and financial measures will work in isolation is not realistic, a fact reiterated by statements in the past few days by Bin Laden himself. - Yours, etc.,
Noel Connolly, Houston, Texas.