Dear Editor:

Recent editorials show clearly that some are still having difficulty grasping that war has been declared on the United States.

There is abundant public evidence that Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda are behind the September 11 attacks. The U.S. and Great Britain have released summaries of this evidence. Bin Laden has also been indicted in a U.S. court for the 1998 embassy bombings. This evidence is in the public domain.

Bin Laden has openly stated, on repeated occasions, that every American citizen is deserving of death regardless of age, race or religion. Every American, no matter how friendly to him, is his target.

Afghanistan has supported bin Laden for years. They ignored a 1999 demand by the United Nations to turn him over.

Bin Laden seeks to reshape the political landscape of the Islamic world. His organization works hand-in-hand with the governments of countries such as Afghanistan, Iran, and Sudan. These countries in turn use Al Qaeda as a deniable instrument of foreign policy. The motivations and strategy of Al Qaeda and its supporters are laid out by Yossef Bodansky in his 1999 book (now a bestseller).

We are facing the greatest accumulation of resources for the explicit purpose of killing innocents ever amassed by a sub-national group. The current war is not one we started or wanted, but our response is just and appropriate.

(printed in The Brownsville Herald 18 November 2001)

© 2001, 2003 by Wm. Robert Johnston.
Last modified 8 March 2003.
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