Italo Savella (The Mail, November 22) is concerned that the "war on terror" has never been properly presented as a "war on fanatical Islamo-fascists" and an expression of "the moral righteousness of our country as a fundamental force for good." Unwittingly, he touches on the root of this and many other conflicts. 

It is comforting to think in terms of "good" and "evil" when confronted with the unceasing acts of cruelty and violence that pervade our world, especially when so many of them seem senseless. When an enemy kills, we react with outrage based on some "moral authority." That same moral authority salves our conscience when we kill in turn.

President Bush has written off entire nations as members of an "axis of evil" which the forces of good must bring down. It is this very notion of duality that is the basis of our troubles. Once we are able to view a fellow human as evil, some sort of nefarious creature with whom we cannot identify, we are able to take that human's life without the revulsion that such an act would naturally elicit.

Do we really believe that there are entire countries full of "good" and "evil" people? Do we really believe that terrorists "hate freedom," as President Bush has repeatedly asserted? Or could there be something more to the picture?

One person is killed out of self-defense, another killed out of revenge, yet another killed to protect the lives of others, still another killed out of prejudice and blind hatred. In each case someone is killed: the act is defined in our minds by the motive behind it. Perhaps if we could get over our emotional, moralistic conceptions we could dig a bit deeper and address the underlying causes of conflict.

The "us versus them" mentality is a huge source of trouble. Only when we are able to accept that our fellow human beings want the same things from life that we do will we be able to engage in the kind of meaningful dialogue that diffuses conflict rather than foments it.