To the editor:

The poorly planned, inadequately supplied, but bravely fought war in Iraq is not a war on terrorism. War is waged on nations but not on abstractions. The attack by Saudi Arabian terrorists on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon (9-11) was not unique. Earlier, American terrorist Timothy McVeigh attacked a federal building. President Bush did not want to deal with terrorists by “swatting flies,” that is by finding the individual or small group responsible, as we did with McVeigh, but that is a better response to terrorists than making war on a nation.

England and Spain have been attacked by Irish and Basque nationalists, respectively. Their response has been “swatting flies.” That is, they seek out terrorist cells and do not bomb Belfast, or Barcelona. They have also tried to settle grievances, with some success.

When Islamic terrorists bombed a Spanish railroad station, Spain did not “give in to terrorists.” They searched out terrorist cells in Spain and were successful in finding a major one.

Russia, on the other hand, has responded to Chechen terrorists by making war on Chechnya. Chechen terrorism continues. Various groups use terrorist techniques in Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Nepal, Israel, India, China, Indonesia, Sudan, Congo, Colombia, Peru, Greece, Italy, and many other countries. We cannot invade all of them.

Effective intelligence (that is the hard part!) can protect us by finding small groups and individuals who use terrorist techniques. We need to “swat more flies” and make fewer wars.

Mary Davidson,

Lawrence