Page One

We may know what drove them 

Editor:  

What could it be? What could drive twelve angry men to kill themselves and their fellow air travelers by dive-bombing into one of the symbols and centers of American capitalism, the World Trade Center towers in New York City, and the symbol and center of American defense, the Pentagon in Washington, D.C.? 

Could it be the fact that America has only 5 percent of the world's population and yet consumes 25 percent of the world's non-renewable resources each year? Could it be the fact that we bombed a pharmaceutical factory in Sudan, thinking mistakenly that it was an asset of the terrorist gang of Bin-Laden. Oops, wrong, so sorry. 

Could it be that we have a vicious society that demeans and mocks honest labor and pays corporate CEOs 100 times the wages of ordinary workers?  

Could it be that our corporations (and ourselves) are destroying the natural planet in our endless search for more wealth? 

Could it be the fact that we are the only industrialized nation that lacks universal health insurance and universal health care? 

Could it be our better paid citizens that demand ever-larger monster houses and monster SUVs?  

Could it be the corporate coup engineered last December by the Supreme Court which gave the presidency to a person beholden to corporate interests? 

Could it be the arrogance of the new administration in how it deals with other countries and how it threatens to break solemn treaties about anti ballistic missiles and nuclear test bans? 

What could it be? 

James K. Sayre 

Oakland