It isn't even we.

Editor,

Keeping bombers off of airplanes presents the same problem as keeping hackers out of computers: while you are guarding the previous hole they found, some clever plotter is finding one you haven't thought of.

The real problem is "why do terrorists hate us?" Is it really because they hate our freedoms? Or is it because we have so angered certain elements by our practices abroad, including but not limited to coddling autocratic governments to plunder resources and economies?

The designated "losers" in the global economy are not necessarily content to lay back and let our corporations and their friends walk over them. Some people are crazy enough to fight back. Yes, the whole jihadi thing is a whack-o rationale and is used to justify the most horrendous acts imaginable: deliberately murdering innocent men, women, and children.

But is stealing from anyone who can be stolen from and enslaving anyone who can be enslaved thus justified by comparison? I don't think so. I think if the way the United States does business abroad were not so blatantly predatory, we would have more friends in the world and fewer enemies.

And it isn't even "we" who are doing nasty deeds to the poor on this planet. The same people who are grinding the poor abroad underfoot are grinding Americans underfoot at home. And as in every other consequence of their behavior, we are the ones who get attacked on planes.

re: "Spy Agencies Failed to Collate Clues on Terror" (12/31/2009)