George,

One of the most disturbing comments I heard this morning as the stock market was about to open, was the fact that some Saudi prince had pledged not to sell ANY of his 20 BILLION dollar stock portfolio! (Maybe it was only 20 million), the media might have misquoted him. One way or the other, I find this to be rather revolting, that a member of the Saudi royal family could accumulate this much wealth largely through the oil riches of his nation.The overwhelming majority of the citizens of the middle-east nations live in despicable poverty and repression.

The United States largely supports these regimes both militarily and politically. The common denominator of virtually all the oil producing nations of the region is an indifference to the needs and health of their citizenry while the few greedily accumulate wealth like the aforementioned prince.

Not for one moment am I excusing the work of terrorists of the Osama bin Laden stripe .... but we, as Americans must understand that many of these Islamic fundamentalist extremist organizations enjoy widespread support and adulation from the ordinary people of these countries.

We fought a war in the early nineties essentially over our greed for the oil that flows from the deserts of that part of the world.Our aim is to keep it flowing and keep it cheap,and we are willing to die for that "right".

Democracy? It isn't our problem. Distribution of wealth? You're not serious, that is communist talk! That is the general attitude that has guided the decisions of the United States regarding the disparities that exist.

The citizens of the middle east are normal human beings with aspirations and goals. They have children.They work hard for what pittance they receive in return ... what they see is a United States greedily consuming the only resource they have and operating cheek by jowl with their greedy repressors.

The military of these countries, though largely ineffective and incompetent, harbor the necessary force to keep the citizenry in line. Civil rights simply don't exist, the "rule of law" is a theory the governments belittle. They are largely closed societies where protest and rebellion would be greeted by death and elimination. Terrorists would have little opportunity to strike; their governments would shoot those even remotely suspected of activity.

Unfortunately, we are reacting as we normally do, with tough talk and macho sports analogies. Wouldn't it make sense for the United States to try to understand a hatred so powerful that dozens of young men would sacrifice their lives to deter an enemy with the only weapon they have ... terror.

Harry Tenney (electronic mail, September 17, 2001)