Dear Editor,

The September 11 barbaric and cowardly attack on the USA was shocking and heartbreaking, and the deaths of the innocent can never be justified by anyone at any time, certainly the Al Queda network of Osama bin Laden must be brought to justice - or to a swift end.

Yes, the Taliban are a group of peasants with lofty titles and numerous weapons, I agree they are terrorists for sentencing 8 Christians to death for merely preaching about Jesus - not to mention executing women who refuse to cover themselves completely and a host of other atrocities their iron-fisted rule has unleashed.

The Spanish Conquista-dores were also a group of peasants with lofty titles and numerous weapons, do you remember when 6,000 Inca men, women and children were butchered by Francisco Pizarro in 1532 just because the Inca Emperor Atahualpa threw a Catholic prayer book to the floor?

People also tend to forget that Spain, England and Portugal and their neo-colonial heirs were for the 100 million Amerindians who existed in the 'New World' in 1491 (one fifth of the world's population at that time) the greatest terror network the world has ever seen. 90 million Amerindians were dead within the first 100 years of the 'Discovery' from Old World diseases, enslavement and genocide (part of which was the feeding of living Amerindian children to the Spanish bloodhounds) ; not even my African brothers suffered so many casualties.

We are the only peoples on earth who have not yet been liberated, the newly elected President Toledo of Peru is the only Amerindian in over 500 years to return to power in our hemisphere; just like everyone else - we don't want to live under the heels of any other ethnic group...but we are willing to share our lands with all of you.

We all will have to take a side in this coming war, I don't agree with everything the American government does, and we all know that the CIA was responsible for the terrorist attack that killed so many of our fellow Caribbean nationals off the west Coast of Barbados in the Cubana Airlines tragedy (Juan Bosch, their Cuban exile operative, lives in luxury in Florida - why isn't he being extradited to face trial?), but the American people are good people and no-one should punish them for the deeds of the powerful elite who are seemingly above international law.

While I will always support the West against the East in principle , (I would never live in a society that orders me to grow a beard or my daughter to cover 99% of her body or be beaten) I will not allow myself nor any of my sons to go to another man's country to shed blood for any reason. At the same token, the innocent men, women and children in the Islamic world should never be punished because of the actions of their powerful elites.

It is simplistic to say "they hate us because we stand for freedom". The fundamentalist Islamic world hates the USA for the double standard they represent. Israel it seems, can do no wrong - when in reality it is Zionist terrorism in Palestine (ask the British about it) and the American blind-eye to it - that is at the root of the Islamic World's bitterness. The Jews are not bad people, but war criminals like Ariel Sharon need to be removed from power and brought to justice to allow a peacemaker like Shimon Peres to take control of the destiny of Israeli Jews. Of course it does not help when ignorant Americans are heard all over the world saying "we don't care about world opinion - we are the only Superpower".

This kind of arrogance breeds hatred in all corners of the globe; and the Islamic fundamentalists no doubt hear the echo of the words of Spartacus in their hearts when he said to the Roman powers "When your empire falls there will be a cry of rejoicing and freedom such as the world has never heard".

'Strategic' bombing will never win the Islamic youth over to our way of thinking, we must be fair in all our dealings, honest in all our words, and genuine in all our actions.

Peace be with you.