SIMON JENKINS (Oh do pay attention, 007, this enemy simply isn’t worthy of you , Comment, last week) is wrong to dismiss concerns about the scale of the threat al-Qaeda poses as “childish fear-mongering”. The security services have some 2,000 individuals under surveillance connected with Islamic terrorism plots and last year arrested more than 200, almost half the European total.

Aside from the direct threats to our values and way of life, we have the abject closing-down of our political and social space out of fear of inflaming Muslim antipathy. Who would have believed that we would again see book-burning, the murder of artists and the driving into exile of politicians in Europe?

There is also the increasingly authoritarian response of the state, where civil liberties are eroded, where the police have taken on paramilitary aspects and where information technology increasingly curbs personal freedoms. Jenkins believes western culture and institutions are robust enough to withstand these assaults but his optimism may not survive further terrorist outrages.

Professor Shaun Gregory
Department of Peace Studies University of Bradford

BUSH-BLAIR BLINDNESS: It is astounding that George W Bush and Tony Blair couldn’t see al-Qaeda for the two-bit operation it is, and were unable to grasp that there was no tangible enemy to attack. By chasing a will-o’-the-wisp in their cuckoo invasion of Iraq, they squandered the chance to help Afghanistan.

Trevellyan Black
Helsinki, Finland

LESSER THREAT: I remember the IRA attacks of the 1970s and 1980s. They didn’t just have fertiliser and bleach – they were well organised and well funded, with Semtex and automatic weapons. They killed the Queen’s cousin and almost assassinated the prime minister. Let’s get this current threat back into proportion.

David Stephens
Pontefract

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