Hear All Sides

WAR ON AMERICA

FEW people can avoid being disturbed and moved by the terrible and tragic events in the US - events that will effect our way of life, awareness of danger and international attitudes.

Many reports from America indicate an urgent intention and need to rebuild the towers of the World Trade Centre and to get back to normal as soon as possible. This demonstrates a stoic and laudable resolve, in the face of adversity, together with defiance against a wicked enemy.

However, rebuilding the towers, and putting the city back to the way it was cannot replace the many people who have lost their lives.

Would it not be preferable to create a fitting memorial within the area where so much suffering has happened? - Mrs V Waine, Newton Aycliffe.

MAY I offer my deepest condolences to the families of the innocent victims in the recent attack upon the World Trade Centre towers in the United States.

There is only one solution to international terrorism and that is to stop the killing in the Middle East and seek a political and peaceful solution that will give a modicum of justice to the long-suffering Arabs. - J Fitzpatrick, Secretary, Tyne Bridge Socialist Labour Party.

I BELIEVE the destruction of the World Trade Towers was a cruel and totally unnecessary act of terrorism.

The perpetrators must be found and punished under the due process of the law. The calls for almost immediate revenge must be resisted to give wiser counsels time to prevail.

The leaders of Europe must speak with one voice and convince the US to step back and refrain from action which would exacerbate an already tense situation.

American policy in the Middle East has been nothing short of disastrous and must be reviewed. History has taught us that it is ordinary, innocent civilians who pay the price for government ineptitude.

Tony Blair is right to sympathise with the American people but must not give the US a blank cheque on our behalf.

The atrocity in New York was carried out by people whose hatred of the US is so self consuming that they are willing to die to indulge their own obsession.

The government of the US should be asking themselves "why do these people hate us so much?" - H Pender, Darlington.

AFTER the unimaginable disaster in the United States, one can understand people wanting immediate retribution.

But indiscriminate bombing of suspect targets could be counter-productive and provoke further terrorist attacks.

It is hard to conceive how a handful of individuals armed with knives and a capable pilot could wreak such devastation.

Advice from safety experts concerned over internal flights was dismissed as being too costly and inconvenient.

President Clinton was always keen to do what he could in promoting the peace process in the Middle East and Ireland. George Bush turns his back on it.

Israel seems to aggravate a delicate situation by constantly building on land that does not rightly belong to them.

There is no cause that could warrant such horrifying destruction, yet I still think the best retribution would be to try and eliminate the problems that gives the terrorist a cause. Surely, there would be little or no support for terrorism that was without a cause. - Douglas Punchard, Kirkbymoorside.

CONSERVATIVES

JIM Tague (HAS, Sept 13) ridicules the Hugh Penders of this region for voting Labour and being the laughing stock of prosperous parts of Britain.

His Tory party made the country cry for 18 years - which showed at the ballot box for Labour in 1997 and with a vote of confidence in 2001. As for Gordon Brown inheriting a good economy - it is in far better shape now.

For long term pensions being in a mess, it was the Tory Party that urged workers to abandon works pensions and go into private pension schemes in the first place, now to their bitter disappointment.

The Tories decimated the mining, steel and shipbuilding industries. As I write it has just been announced unemployment figures are the lowest for 26 years.

Employment schemes such as the New Deal would be abolished under the Tories. Let's hope this "prosperous" Tory party of toffs never again governs this country. - JL Thompson, Crook.

CHRISTIANITY

I'M glad that the Archbishop of Canterbury spoke up so quickly by saying this is "an exhilarating time to be a Christian", to counterbalance the pessimistic opinion of Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor (Echo, Sept 7).

Every Christian knows the times are difficult and many people today are just not interested in what Christianity has to say. Christ warned: "You can be certain that in the last days there will be some hard times. People will love only themselves and money. Even though they will make a show of being religious, their religion won't be real."

Christians are only too aware that they have enemies, one of the worst of which is apathy, especially apathy within their own ranks, where people are giving up, fearing that Christ is defeated. This is far from the truth. We should be excited by new challenges and walking through the doors of opportunity which are opened to us, as Dr Carey says. - EA Moralee, Billingham.

MOTORISTS

DURHAM Police are having a month-long crackdown on speeding motorists. Nothing new there then, as motorists nationally have been subjected to police persecution for a number of years.

Why do we never hear of a month-long crackdown on burglars, a crackdown on thieves or a crackdown on muggers?

No chance - the real criminal is a much harder animal to detect and apprehend so it is easier to target the motorist.

If the police want to alienate the public, they are certainly succeeding. - P Cooke, Bishop Auckland.