How is bombing the Mideast supposed to stop attacks like the one in Nice, France?

To the editor: Despite all the blather, the one thing I have not heard is a reasonable solution to stop a lunatic — or a handful of lunatics — from appropriating the tools of a sophisticated society in order to perpetrate random killings. (“Grasping at straw men in the wake of the Nice massacre,” editorial, July 15)

Going to war with Islamic State, bombing the deserts of the Mideast, calling Muslims terrorists, whatever — please explain how any of that is going to stop a madman like the one in Nice, France, who killed almost 90 people and injured upward of 200 more, from taking a truck or a gun or knives out of his kitchen drawer to kill people.

I have yet to hear a single substantive policy proposal from any of the politicians who insist that “getting tough” will end this madness. Getting angry isn’t a solution.

Jonathan Greenspan, Westlake Village

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To the editor: The civilized world has again been ruthlessly assaulted by the enemies of humanity.

The terror unleashed in Nice during a public celebration of Bastille Day, a commemoration of the French people’s uprising against the dictatorial and abusive forces of monarchy, has once again underscored the bottomless brutality of violence. The modus operandi here was to plow a weapons-laden truck through an unsuspecting crowd, adding to the spate of terror attacks just this summer in Orlando, Istanbul, Baghdad, Dallas and Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Unless the international community prioritizes destroying the global machinery behind terrorism, I am afraid that the list of innocent people mowed down as soft targets may get longer and longer. It’s about time the politically divided world adopts a uniform strategy to thwart terrorism.

Atul M. Karnik, Woodside, N.Y.

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To the editor: I was deeply horrified and saddened to read of yet another terrorist attack in France on Bastille Day and wish to send my deepest condolences to the French people on this tragedy.

The enemies of freedom are constantly on the attack. These murderers are envious of the liberties that citizens of democracies share and they seek to terrorize the innocent in order to provoke fear and collapse of their society. This cannot be allowed to happen.

We, the lovers of liberty, must fight against these barbaric incidents with the resolve that the terrorists will never succeed.

On top of that, our leaders must stop supporting Islamic extremists who subscribe to the philosophy that the “enemy of my enemy must be my friend” by employing them to do their dirty work associated with “regime change” in places such as Libya and Syria.

Time for a reality check.

Michael Pravica, Henderson, Nev.

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To the editor: The recent surge in terror attacks around the world has left all of us enraged and disheartened once again.

I am somewhat traumatized thinking of what really goes on in the minds of these deluded individuals. Their mental state signifies that they not only bought into the misguided extremist propaganda, but they also stopped using their common sense altogether and gave into this senseless thought that slaughtering innocents will be rewarded in the afterlife — a truly disgusting belief.

It is unfair to associate these criminals with any religion, since their minds are clouded by delusion. Never once in his life did the prophet Muhammad hurt anyone personally or promote murder in the name of religion.

I can only say that these misguided individuals are as spiritually and mentally ill as any Western mass murderer, including Adam Lanza and Dylann Roof.

Nadia Ahmad, Round Rock, Texas

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