Taking on the terrorists

Re “Goodbye to the ‘war on terror,’ ” Opinion, Dec. 4

I never thought I’d ever be in agreement with Rosa Brooks, but I have to agree with her that we are not in a “war on terror”; terrorism is just a tactic.

However, what she fails to say is that we are in a war against Islamofascists and other believers of totalitarianism who seek to take the “free” out of the free world.

P.J. Gendell

Beverly Hills

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Brooks is right to allude to the stark fact that terrorism is interwoven in our societies, and to call on President-elect Barack Obama to help resolve intractable conflicts. The haunting images of dead and wounded in Mumbai should not diminish our resolve to counterbalance terrorists’ tactics. Kashmir has been a festering wound on the Indian subcontinent for decades. Likewise, the Arab-Israeli conflict has been smoldering since 1948. Countless lives have been lost because of our failure to persuade Arabs and Israelis to live harmoniously.

Obama has a chance to enter history not just as the first African American president but as a leader who can act decisively to bring peace to the world.

Munjed Farid Al Qutob

London