I am slightly confused by George Fulton (Letters, September 21). He expresses concerns about the loss of innocent lives which the US's plans for a war on terrorism will inevitably cause, yet he calls people petitioning against such a military response "scum". I would think people whose concern to protect innocent lives extends to those in Afghanistan should be applauded, not criticised.

Despite what our leaders say, the majority of the world's population know the recent terrorist attacks on the US were a direct response to US foreign policy. It is a tragic demonstration of the short-termism of US foreign policy that Osama bin Laden and his Al-Qaeda organisation were set up with direct CIA support in 1988 to oppose the Soviet Union. This deliberate policy to arm and train Islamists is directly responsible for the rise of the Taliban in Afghanistan and now threatens to destabilise the whole region.

The only way to prevent such terrible events from happening again is to tackle the root causes. If the US put $20 billion towards tackling poverty in Afghanistan and resolving the Palestinian situation, it would achieve much more than by bombing Afghanistan, Iraq or whoever else it intends to blame.

Creating more martyrs and more potential suicide bombers is no way forward.

-Jez Macdonald, Ditchling Rise, Brighton