In Kenneth Witwer's recent letter, he explains that the true oppressors of the people of the Middle East are their own leaders. I do not deny that some of the regimes under which these people live are oppressive and that the oppression leads to the consequences he points out. My concern is that Mr. Witwer blames the violent actions of these people, including the recent attacks against the United States, on misinformation and bad governance.

It is easy to paint such issues as black and white. These enemies are either evil or terribly misinformed, and that is why they hate the United States enough to kill civilians in a terrorist action so violent that it is rightly interpreted as a clear act of war. However, no issue with as many contributing factors as this one can be clearly divided into good and evil.

It is a mistake to assume that the United States is not partially culpable for the anti-United States sentiments found in the Middle East. We did not directly caused the horrible tragedy of September 11, but we might have avoided it altogether if we had made an attempt to understand the people, and I stress, the rational, human people, of the Middle East before they felt driven to the extreme of terrorism.

While we should seek to punish those responsible for grievously injuring our great nation, an equal fervor should be directed to the task of preventing deep-seated hatred and misunderstanding from forming in the first place.