Misguided revenge

Re: “Talk of the victims,” Letter, July 21.

The killing of five U. S. Marines by a Muslim- named person was tragic and senseless. The 9/ 11 tragedy was in the same category. These acts have nothing to do with the teachings of Islam. These were revenge acts carried out by misguided men with Muslim names.

We in the West have unwisely carried out many unlawful wars such as the one in Iraq which killed thousands of people. Following 9/ 11, the operation in Afghanistan was also a revenge act which killed thousands of Afghans. Some other action against the perpetrators of 9/ 11 should have been considered.

It is claimed on the Internet that 9/ 11 was revenge for the U. S. naval bombardment of residential towers in Beirut several decades ago, which killed hundreds of people. We humans are born with revenge instincts that are responsible for most of the murders in the world. I agree with Alexandre Trudeau that our aggressive mission in Afghanistan was wrong and foolish, resulting in the deaths of 158 young Canadian soldiers, including a female soldier from this city. I have no idea what we have achieved by our Afghanistan mission. Anwar Sultan, Calgary