Annette Norman: I am proud of President Putin and President Bush for being rational

I read with interest your account of the aftermath of 9/11 in the USA. I live in Texas, a state in the very middle of the US. Never, at any point after the attacks, did I or anyone else I know, lose telephones, cell phones, internet, television or radio. In fact, I sat in my office and worked while watching the horror on a small, portable TV in my office.

I don't think that anyone who has not visited our great country has any concept of how huge it is. Texas and Afghanistan are about the same size, and remember, Texas is only one state of many that make up the USA. For any event, even one as horrible as the attacks on New York and Washington, to cause all our telecommunications, etc. to falter just isn't a possibility.

Texas alone has a coastline, deserts, mountains, plains, prairies, piny woods, forests, swamps and most eco-systems. We have refineries, producing oil/gas wells, banking, insurance, NASA, ship yards, Texas Instruments, EDS and other computer infrastructure. Remember, that is just Texas.

I think the terrorists vastly underestimated the magnitude of the task they undertook. They terribly underestimated the will of the ordinary American citizen. I have asked myself over and over in the past months, who did the terrorists think they were dealing with? Did they think the average person in the US would just crumble in fear? I believe they formed their warped opinion of the US while watching movies and tv, certainly not an accurate picture of American life. They didn't look at the untold millions of people who go to work every day, raise their children, go to church, take care of their elderly parents, do volunteer work, give to charity and, in America, support women's rights, civil rights, the freedom to worship Buddha, Allah, Jesus, or nothing at all, if it is your individual wish. Who did they think they were dealing with? The great Satan? I think not.

I have never been prouder to be an American or a Texan. I am proud of President Putin and President Bush for being rational, forward thinking men. I hope that from the horror of 9/11 that people the world over can begin to look at peace as a real possibility.

We have a saying here in my state, Don't Mess with Texas, which I think now should be Don't Mess with the USA. I wish the terrorists had watched a few more old westerns on TV and in the movies, they might have thought twice about attacking us.

I pray for all the countries that lost citizens in WTC attack, their mothers, fathers, sons, daughters....this was truly an attack on the people of the world.

Thank you for the opportunity to speak.

Annette Norman