Zealot’s actions no surprise

Re “Unlikely Candidate for Car Bomber,” April 15

The story of suicide bomber Raed Mansour Albanna is horrifying -- but not particularly surprising. Despite this administration trying to pretend that the enemy’s grievances are primarily political, the reality is that our enemy is an ideology: Islamic fundamentalism.

Would Albanna’s actions have been any less reprehensible if he’d killed 132 Iraqis with more conventional methods rather than with a car bomb? It is not their method that should scare us, it is their desire to force the world to return to the 14th century. Nuclear weapons in the hands of such people should be unthinkable. The possibility that the world cannot muster the resolve to stop Iran -- by whatever means necessary -- is much scarier to me than another well-educated, “he-was-such-a-nice-guy” fanatic blowing himself to pieces.

STEWART MARGOLIS

Los Angeles

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This story can only be viewed as a success for Osama bin Laden and his followers, and a failure brought on by the Bush administration’s policies in Iraq. This story is what Bin Laden wanted to see happen after 9/11: a clash of civilizations that forces ordinary citizens to falsely chose between the West and Islam. Americans should not be surprised upon reading this story; they should be angry that the world has been hijacked by zealots from both regions: Ayman Zawahiri, Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Perle, Bin Laden, Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld.

CHRIS YANG

Rancho Palos Verdes