TERRORISM SO we are warned that, because we support America in their stand against terrorists, Britain will become the next target for them. So what is new? We have been the target of the IRA terrorists ever since Ireland was divided in 1922 and, oddly enough, they were financed mainly by America, so we should not urge Tony Blair to declare war on the US? - E Reynolds, Wheatley Hill.

BRAVO to John Pilger (Echo, Sept 21) for exposing the US as the leading exponent of terrorism in our world.

Americans have been very clever in eliminating millions of people only in the Third World and the Far East, which rarely found the headlines in our media.

Isn't it strange the warmongering bellicosity comes from so-called Christian countries? Of course, the destruction of the World Trade Centre was an act of terrorism, but, if similar violence is to be avoided, the West must stop this eternal demonizing of those who do not share our values and culture. - Hugh Pender, Darlington.

HAVING read some of the letters and articles by some of your writers, I can only say thank God they were not in power in 1939 when Hitler was killing thousands and thousands of innocent people throughout Europe.

We had a great leader in Winston Churchill and a nation which stood alone when we realised that, if we surrendered, a cruel dictator was taking over the whole of Europe and, thanks to the help from America, we survived.

These do-gooders should just think how many of their own people have been killed by these religious fanatics: thousands of them and thousands still live in fear of their lives - hence the thousands who are fleeing to other countries for a better life.

I am not a fan of Tony Blair, but I do respect him for his stance with America against these evil people who are not speaking for genuine Muslims. - FG Wealands, Darlington.

THE United States and Britain are agreed on the eye-for-an-eye policy to avenge the atrocities of September 11 without a care for the innocent thousands of Afghans or others who will doubtless be killed.

It is old-fashioned to say it, but two wrongs certainly don't make a right. Also, when the IRA bombed Manchester or Omagh, the response was not to attack the innocent civilians of Dublin, but to deal with issues that were causing terrorism.

The average Afghan has never heard of the World Trade Centre or even knows or cares about Osama bin Laden.

One in three Afghans rely on food aid to survive and now the aid agencies have had to withdraw.

Afghanistan is a country already on its knees and now the mighty giant of the West is planning to wreak a nightmare revenge on its civilians for crimes they did not even commit.

This is identical to the situation in Iraq where millions are suffering due to US actions and sanctions, simply as a result of having a leader not of their own choosing.

It is precisely these unfair bullying tactics that have made the US so unpopular in the Arab world.

It is also worth remembering that both Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein were supported and indeed armed by the US when it suited them.

Bin Laden was America's right hand man fighting Russia in its war against Afghanistan. Saddam was armed by America in the Iran-Iraq war. The game of international politics is dirty and corrupt.

Bombing innocent people will not solve anything and may draw us all into a third world war with no winners. - Andrea Nader, Darlington.

ONE knew after the tragic events in America on September 11 the appeasers would soon bring the "think about the kids" argument into the public domain and I am pleased they did so quickly.

Today, because of the mass media, our minds are cultivated through pictures and two of them (Echo, Sept 12 and 15) remain in the memory.

The first was a ball of fire as the hijacked plane crashed into the World Trade Centre and the second was of a four-year-old girl named Juliana Clifford McCourt who was a passenger on the aircraft.

What the appeasers seem to be saying is that, if two parents were walking along the street with their four-year-old daughter and a stranger walked up to them with a can of petrol, poured it over the little girl then lit it, they should say: "There is no need to do that. After the funeral come round the house, have a cup of tea and we will talk about the matter otherwise other children might get hurt".

A favourite anthem sung in America, which will be sung many times over the coming months, begins with the words "O beautiful America". Juliana Clifford McCourt was a beautiful American girl and President Bush has two daughters, so the appeasers should not expect a soft solution to the cowardly attack on America. - Thomas Conlon, Kirk Merrington, Spennymoor.

IT is clear that if terrorism is ever to be eradicated there must be a massive shift in the political, social and cultural values that have held sway since the 1960s.

It will require the quashing of political agendas promoting materialism, globalism and unrestrained multi-culturalism, the use of schools and the media to instil respect, decency and self-restraint, and the redefining of democracy in terms of law, order and security rather than unbridled freedom.

Unless this comes about, we must expect more and more of these horrendous outrages as the "bin Ladens" take over the world. - A Jones, Bridlington.