Letters: U.S. response to 9/11 marred by mistakes, criminal acts

On Sept. 11, 2001, 2,974 innocents died in al-Qaeda terrorist attacks in the United States. Since then, our government — the Bush administration with the active participation of Congress — has killed an unknown number of innocents responding to these attacks in the so-called War on Terrorism.

To those in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan who have lost innocent loved ones as a result of our government's response, the U.S. is a perpetrator of terror. Our military's inability to implement smart and prudent tactics results not just in an uncounted number of innocent deaths but in thousands joining al-Qaeda so that they can defend their families and their countries from our government and our military. Our government's mistakes, criminal acts and especially our indiscriminate killing of innocents has turned a world that loved America and Americans into a world that hates and fears America and Americans.

These innocent deaths could have been avoided. Has their killing made us more safe? Has it lessened the pain of our own loss on 9/11?

The group September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows is made up of relatives of those who died in the 9/11 attacks. Their motto is from Martin Luther King: "Wars are poor chisels for carving out peaceful tomorrows."

Felice Pace

Klamath