TALIBAN leader Mohammad Omar, addressing the American people in a fax to Reuters, said -- "Whatever sorrows you suffer are due to your government's erroneous policies."

And in an interview with radio station "Voice of America", he continued along the same lines, saying -- "America has created the evil that is attacking it. The evil will not disappear even if I die and Osama bin Laden dies and others die. This is US policy. The US should step back and review its policy."

This interview was banned from being broadcast by the US State Department. But Americans should listen. They should think long and hard about these statements. These words do not sound like the rantings of a mad man to me.

As the world watches, America now has a great opportunity to amend some of its foreign policies. This will take great courage. Some will say they are allowing terrorism to succeed. But, by sending food and medical supplies to Afghanistan, Iraq, and wherever else help is needed, and by taking a much tougher line against Israeli occupation of Palestine, many may begin to see Uncle Sam in a new light. This would be a huge step in the right direction.

Terrorists cannot and must not be allowed to get away with atrocities. But most of these terrorists are the products of atrocities. Terrorists are never happy people. Terrorism springs from discontentment and misery, as I once read. We can bomb them into submission, but, as Schiller said -- "A defeated enemy will rise again, but a reconciled one is truly vanquished."

Brian Derbyshire

Ribchester Grove

Bolton