Terrorists holding journalists hostage unless the French lift the headscarf ban in France.

Terrorists holding Nepalese civil servants captive willing only to release them if the US troops abandon Iraq. And now, every parent's worst fear, terrorists holding innocent children hostage unless the Russians leave Chechnya.

It is far from necessary for blameless children to be used in this manner as political weapons. Whether they admit it or not, Governments are not going to hand terrorists their wish lists on a silver plate.

Harsh as it may sound, the lost lives of a handful of nationals is not sufficient for proud governments to withdraw their laws. So these barbaric acts gain nothing but shame.

The recent Channel 4 documentary, 'The Hamburg Cell', purported to be based on known and true facts.

How the magicians at Channel 4 managed to get inside the mind of Al-Qaeda and indeed the hijackers themselves, when the big USA can't even track them down is beyond miraculous.

The documentary portrayed what is a pure and simple religion in a most callous manner.

A minority of poisonous individuals such as those who commit cruel acts using innocents as guns have resulted in the rest of the decent Muslim population being persecuted.

When I do wear a scarf to cover my head I note how people give me the once over. When I don't have a scarf on I note that my colour is sufficient for people to assume the same. Catch 22 situation.

The documentary showed how suicide bombers were being bred.

Now whenever anything goes wrong, be it a bomb blast or a murder the connection to Al-Qaeda is always investigated. If someone is murdered Jihad is considered as a motive. The documentary appeared to be wrong, subjective and lethal to the hard work put in by many people to create integration in this country.

Why the heads of the world cannot sit down and talk matters through is something that maybe due to my age, I cannot comprehend.

Some would say there is no other option for them to sacrifice their own lives.

However, using innocent children in this traumatic way is sick.

How can you explain to these nave children why someone would want to kill them? They must be scarred for life as a result of the death and suffering they have seen

The Russian government must acknowledge that thousands of Chechens have been brutally killed by it's forces. Their children see nothing but war and will retaliate in the only method they know.