Whose crime?

From the beginning Mr. Frank Richardson has been among those who do not seem to see that any crime was committed on Sept. 11 last year, while insisting that the responsibility for those events lies with the victims.

Since he is in the mood for a challenge, I would like to take the opportunity of offering him one. My challenge is based on the clear inference that can be drawn from his various letters: essentially as my opening paragraph. Among the victims of that mass murder were a number of Indonesian citizens, including a 20- year-old boy who was a passenger in one of the aircraft. I invite Mr. Richardson to explain to the bereaved families, through this column, firstly, why America's resistance to the Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan was "misguided, fatuous, asinine, idiotic and murderously inept", and secondly, why the murder of their loved ones was an inevitable consequence of that resistance.

I shall be interested to study Mr. Richardson's chain of reasoning, should he offer it. No doubt his clear explanation would give great comfort to the victim's families, by helping them to understand the real reason for the murder of those innocent people, and where the guilt for that crime truly lies.

JOHN HUMPHRIES

Jakarta