I BELIEVE Robert Segal (Misguided to blame West for bombers, Citizen last week) should show less hubris about 'the West' and try to see faults for what they are.

His reply to my letter revealed more about his own lack of security than anything else and I wish to make further comments.

The very term 'West' is inaccurate and arrogant. It dates back to the time when some still believed the Earth was flat and not a globe?

Mr Segal, obviously a US/ Zionist supporter, makes sweeping statements like 'the bombers chose to kill'. How does he know that these young men were not coerced into doing their brutal work by others?

The label terrorist is also interchangeable with freedom fighter in this age of Capitalist imperialism. The Kosovo KLA was 'terrorist' until the US and British Governments needed it in the attacks on Yugoslavia and, conversely, Osama Bin Laden was a freedom fighter when he was attacking the Reds in Afghanistan.

Mr Segal lashes out with the question 'why not blame the Crusades'. Why not indeed? Until we dispassionately approach the study of history and society there is no hope of finding a resolution to the problems we face today.

The Crusader states occupied roughly the territory Israel does now for two centuries, using similar fanatical mythology to bolster their cause. They were defeated only when the 'West' realised they were a threat to its own interests.

I repeat that individual acts of terrorism are a dead end (often literally) and that no-one should indulge in such activities.

But as a Socialist I reject Mr Segal's assertion that the only alternative to the status quo would be to 'undo the course of modernity'. What is modern about use of evidence obtained by torture and the assumption of guilt?

The 'only' solution is to redress the injustices of capitalism by the building of mass movements dedicated to this end by using trades unions, ballots, mass demonstrations, strikes and any other legitimate means available.

Steve Metcalfe, Lancaster.