You are right. Here in Colombia we are starting to get out of the " them and us. " idea, arranging meetings between the people with economic means and people who don´t have economic facilities. We have to thank the courage, humility and honesty, also the good faith the people without means have put into the experience. They have helped the other side understand and accept their reality, they have had the humbleness to recognise their misdeeds, and very strong friendships are growing between them. So it is not only in International Affairs we nead compassion, we need it at all levels. It should be taught at home, learned by seing the way parents treat each other and their children. Competition is a kind of terrorism, it goes against compassion. Thank you for all you do for the world.

I agree that we should not demonize terrorists. However, nor should we perpetuate myths about them. The notion that people are driven to terrorism out of poverty is a fallacy. The head of the Peruvian Shining Path was a sociology professor; Osama bin Laden was a multi-millionaire and his right hand man, Dr al Zawahiri, is a graduate of Cairo University; likewise the leaders and supporters of the notorious Baader Meinhoff gang and the Red Brigade were drawn mainly from the priviledged ranks of university students. While they invariably claim to act on behalf of the poor and the oppressed, these leaders, and those that respond to their message, are more often than not the children of the educated middle class - not people born into grinding poverty. It is idealism combined with specific ideologies that demonize the United States and glorify violent struggle against US domination of the global financial system that underpins modern terrorism, not poverty.