Letter: US missile attacks

Sir: Robert Fisk suggests that we in the US consider the reasons for terrorism, and, when we do, we will discover that those who attack us and our embassies merely want a more even-handed American policy in the Middle East ("As my grocer said, Thank you, Mr Clinton, for the kind words", 22 August).

This is utter nonsense. Mr Fisk certainly knows that terrorists (or whatever he wants to call them) want nothing less than the elimination of Israel and the eradication of western cultural influence in the Islamic world.

And the difference between "Israelis who massacre 29 Palestinians" (in fact, there was one such Israeli) and terrorists who murder athletes and diplomats and tourists and office workers is that the former is reviled by his society, while the latter are lionised by theirs.

GREGG STEVENS

Boston,

Massachusetts

USA