John Paul Lederbach in "Let's do the unexpected" (#63) blames the tragedies of 11 September in the United States on the Arab-Israeli conflict. While there is no doubt that this conflict has called to arms some disaffected Arabs to Bin Laden's cause, it has not been their revered leader's cause until this week. His cause was first to free Afghanistan from Soviet domination. When that goal had been reached thanks largely to aid from the United States, he needed another one. The next purpose-for-living was to rid Saudi Arabia of invited American troops. While the Soviet-Afghani issue was blatantly imperialist, the arrival of American troops in Saudi Arabia was to protect Mr Bin Laden's country from Iraqi imperialism. It has been quite clear that neither the Saudis nor the Americans are going to change their mutual interests to suit Mr Bin Laden. Now that the United States and several dozen countries are cooperating to ferret out this megalomaniac and the repressive regime he supports, he has desperately sounded a new clarion: the Arab-Israeli conflict. Of all the venom he has spewed and the manipulation in the name of Islam, this issue will certainly embolden more poor young people to willingly give up their lives for the cause. What a supreme irony: it appears that Secretary Colin Powell was about to announce support for the nation-state of Palestine. This is a man who has gone over to the dark side and is tragically taking thousands of otherwise decent people with him.

Suzanne Silvers
Houston, Texas