Steve Boneck mentioned in his column ("Madrid bombings spread long list of questions on combatting terrorism," March 17) that al-Qaida's motives are derived from the ousting of Muslims by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabela in 1492.

This is no joke.

Osama bin Laden made this one of his official complaints against Western society. His motives are nothing short of unreasonable. Ousting hard-line leaders will not stop bin Laden and al-Qaida from future attacks. Bin Laden's hatred of the United States exists because he hates our values, he hates our customs, and he hates our society.

The same goes for Spain.

The Spanish voters foolishly gave into militant Islamic hate and elected weak leaders. The same can happen here. Short of the United States going out of existence and all of Western society with it, there is no way to satisfy bin Laden's hatred.

He wants us all dead.