THANK YOU Peter Canellos for reminding us that the unrelated anthrax symbolism heightened the American reaction to the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, and perhaps opened the Bush administration's way to the Iraq war ("Anthrax deaths turned attention toward Iraq ," Page A2, Aug. 5).
And the anthrax symbolism wasn't the only cause: Another factor that was unrelated to Al Qaeda's intentions, and heightened American reaction and helped lead to the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, was the collapse of the twin towers.
If, as Al Qaeda intended, they were damaged but had not collapsed (though they were doubtless happy with the collapse), the tragedy would have involved many fewer of the tragic deaths, and the towers would still be standing today.
We would have had no "hole in the sky," no "change in the Manhattan skyline," no "ground zero," with its status as a shrine and its endless parade of visitors and endless plans for monuments.
If they had not collapsed, the twin towers would probably by now be back in operation. There might have been no Afghanistan or Iraq wars, and people today could well be reading today's peacetime newspapers from a renovated and reopened World Trade Center.
JAMES ADLER
Cambridge
