Dear Editor,

Why the World Trade Center? Because it represented the pursuit of life, liberty, wealth and happiness on this Earth. The West's this-worldly success is to the terrorists an intolerable affront. It's not that they want to steal the West's values; they want to see those values destroyed. Ayn Rand explained the essence of this: "They do not want to live, they want you to die" (Galt's speech, Atlas Shrugged). Taliban official Mohammad Hussein Mostassed put it this way: "The Americans are fighting so they can live and enjoy the material things of life. But we are fighting so we can die in the cause of God."

John Dawson
McKinnon, Victoria, Australia