REGARDING the recent USA tragedy, what really gets me mad is this.

If the world's leaders can suddenly become so animated and unified in their resolve to rid the planet of terrorists, why on Earth could they not generate such feverish fervour months ago and prevent such a terrible catastrophe from occurring?

I think they must all be under the influence of what I call the "dead child syndrome". It works like this: Anxious parents nearly paranoid about "near misses" and the genuine risk to their children's lives from speeding motorists try repeatedly to get the council and the police to agree that action is necessary to provide a controlled crossing or refuge to minimise the threat.

The council or police drag their heels, procrastinate and come up with all sorts of reasons why their inactivity is justified. Then, horror of horrors, a child is killed or seriously injured and suddenly, miraculously the necessary works are approved and completed in record time.

Why should that be and why should that child and its family have to suffer unnecessary grief? If only the responsible personnel had overcome their natural reticence to act without being forced into it by circumstance.

It is the same with the world leaders. It seems that none of them have the courage to act alone and only when they "gang up" do they seem capable of making moves to change things. The "pack syndrome" is very much an animal trait and certainly not what we expect from so called higher intelligence beings.

They should really be ashamed of their failure to take action and we should decry their behaviour and pour scorn on their current round of back patting and ego boosting. They have had it in their power to prevent such occurrences and I seriously wonder how they sleep at nights knowing that they could have done it.

For the future we can only hope that their mission is successful and that our children, grandchildren and their children will grow into a world safer in the knowledge that the forces of evil have been defeated and terrorism, in all its forms, is banished from the face of the Earth.

Anthony J Boddy

Hulton Lane

Bolton