Letter: Bin Laden fallout

THE death of Osama bin Laden has now achieved the aim of the initial invasion of Afghanistan, namely to get the man who carried out the worst terror attack in history.

Now that aim has been achieved after nearly ten years there is no more need to be in Afghanistan. A total withdrawal of troops from that country should take place immediately.

Bin Laden could and should have been captured or killed in the early days of the Afghan war but for the incompetence, arrogance and hubris of George Bush and Tony Blair. They decided to divert all resources into invading Iraq instead of deploying them correctly to get the man who has remained elusive for ten years.

Bin Laden's death, however, will not end the threat of Islamic terrorism. The al-Qaeda ideology has spread across the globe and is especially prevalent in Yemen, Somalia, Iraq, Pakistan and most notably Saudi Arabia, the number one funder of terrorism across the world.

Bin Laden's death will be hyped by the US government as a propaganda coup, but in reality he had been neutralised for most of the last decade. He could not use the phone or internet. Terrorism can only be defeated when the bombing of civilians comes to and end and western support for dictators ceases.

ALAN HINNRICHS

Gillespie Terrace

Dundee