Past and present dangers  SIR – Sad to say, I found your
assessment of the post-September 11th world to be lacking in
both insight and courage (“Five years on”, September 2nd). I can
read in innumerable publications about how the war in Iraq was a
mistake, that weapons of mass destruction were not found, and
how the overly aggressive Americans, dragging along the
reluctant Brits, have, to the world's great detriment, stirred
up a hornet's nest for no reason etc, etc. Maybe The Economist
believes that September 11th was simply an aberration and that
if we had not attacked Afghanistan and Iraq, Muslim activists of
various persuasions would not still both detest the West and be
killing each other in dreadful numbers. Perhaps you also believe
that if Israel did not exist the turmoil in the Middle East
would be significantly lessened.  George Bush seems to
understand that September 11th represented only the tip of a
very large iceberg; that for at least the past 350 years the
world has been faced with the conseque