From Joe Powell
All credit to New Scientist for showing the range of responses to
the “In the line of fire” article
(1 September, p 4, and
15 September, p 50).
But how sad to see some of my countrymen writing in such a prehistoric and
insular manner.
Most of the quoted sources were American and it was clear that the Midwest is
just as much at risk as Europe. The depressingly thoughtless and unnecessarily
hostile diatribes sent in by several correspondents are symptomatic of the
reasons we Americans are mistrusted so much throughout the world and why some
nations cheer when we suffer a reverse.
I hope the events of 11 September have shown that worrying about ballistic
missiles is itself a mental relic of the cold war. As I sit writing this e-mail
at a friend’s apartment in London, I wait for transatlantic flights to restart
so I can return to my home city, which was recently attacked with civilian
American aircraft hijacked by men with knives.
No “Son of Star Wars” could have prevented that. “Value-for-money” terrorism
does not require the latest technology or big engineering.
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Let’s instead invest our money and brainpower in more practical defensive
projects. Let’s be more proactive in understanding, rather than blasting or
ignoring, the mindsets of those outside the clearly inadequate walls of Fortress
America.
New York City
