Dear Madam or Sir,
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Let’s get the obvious out of the way first. “America,” the sum of the countries that occupy the Western Hemisphere, is not really at issue at all. What both writers meant to say was the “United States of America,” the country upon whose soil the events of 9/11 took place, whose citizens’ deaths are sought by those who orchestrated those events, whose government and social institutions are hated by those same persons, and whose destruction those persons seek.
I propose a hypothetical. Let’s assume that I am a United States of American citizen who hates this country and wants to see it destroyed, and that I go on a rampage on United States of American soil and kill some of my fellow citizens in pursuit of my vision. Have I committed an attack on the United States of America? I don’t think so. I have attacked those individuals, but I am nothing more than a murderer. Would the situation be any different were I not a citizen of the U. S. of A.? I think not. There is a difference between a crime spree and an attack upon a country.
Bert Rice
