Madam, - In his response to Dr Colm Stephens's opinion piece of March 19th, David Rolfe (March 24th) suggests that "Al-Qaeda has no legitimate political demands". The simplicity of this comment betrays all that is wrong with the present approach to the Al-Qaeda threat, specifically an inability to look beyond the symptoms and try to understand the causes.
Al-Qaeda is a group motivated by a combination of religious fanaticism and a rejection of Western modernity. Religious fanatics (as George Bush has ably demonstrated) simply will not negotiate or compromise in any way. They are essentially fascists and Mr Rolfe is correct when he says they have no legitimate political demands. Little short of the West's annihilation will satisfy the organisation. For this reason, there can be no let-up when it comes to fighting terrorism through intelligence gathering and preventive measures.
But, as we have learned in this country, all efforts to combat the problem should be accompanied by an attempt to understand it. One question above all else, and famously uttered by a survivor of the attack on the World Trade Centre, needs to be asked: why do they hate us? A fundamentalist interpretation of Islam? Hatred of freedom? The continuing occupation of Palestinian lands?
Probably all of the above. The defining characteristic of al-Qaeda, however, which provides them with a steady flow of volunteers, is a resentment not of the West or modernity per se but of the morally bankrupt and hegemonic form Western modernity has taken. Such a phenomenon is plain to see in the issue of Third World debt or the case of the AIDS patient who can't afford medication that is manufactured at a fraction of its retail price.
A "war on terror" involving intelligence agencies and armed guards is of only limited use. A bottom-up rather than top-down initiative is needed urgently. If Bush, Blair and others such as Mr Rolfe do not acknowledge the political legitimacy of the underlying issues that are ultimately responsible for Al-Qaeda's existence, the terrorist threat will remain for a long time to come. - Yours, etc.
NEIL BRADY, Monkstown, Co Dublin.