I think it is particularly difficult for Americans to get a clear perspective in the aftermath of 9/11 because it was really the first time that a significant atrocity had been visited on them on their soil. No one ever thought that fortress America would be attacked and their sense of outrage is still palpable. We were dragged into a futile and unnecessary war in Iraq on the back of it, for no reason other than that America had to be seen by its people to be doing something to take the fight to "the enemy". I am not unsympathetic to people who have loved ones who lost their lives on 9/11, but maybe it focussed the American mind on what went on in the wider world and shattered its insularity. I sometimes wonder whether the troubles in Ireland would have dragged on so long, and so many lives would have been lost, if the Americans hadn't been bankrolling Sinn Fein IRA. We lost friends and colleagues while we were in Ireland and you don't forget things like that, even though we are now very glad that a political solution has been found and Northern Ireland is back on its feet again and building the future it deserves. Let's hope they find a political solution in Afghanistan soon and bring our people home.