Thank you to Edgar Allen Beem for saying what needs to be said about the way in which we are undertaking our war on terror.

As he points out, we create as many terrorists as we destroy through our  campaign of remote-controlled robot bombing attacks. The civilians who are killed in that process are not simply “collateral casualties,” they are human beings with relatives, people who grieve for their losses brought about by our hands. Those relatives develop intense hatred towards us, which leads many of them to become the next generation of terrorists.

ISIS is more than just random terrorism. It is an ideology, and it draws its followers from among the many unemployed young people whose lives seem to have no future. If we want to defeat ISIS, we must offer something better than what those other leaders offer.

Ironically, probably our best weapon would be economic development that creates jobs for these people in their home countries.

We must use our minds as well as our might to rid ourselves of terrorism coming from the Middle East.

Cushman D. Anthony
Falmouth