I'm more than a little afraid that Bush is the guy who decides how we will respond as a nation to the events of this past Tuesday. The group responsible for the attack should be held accountable. It appears we are finding out the identity of the perpetrators and may ultimately be able prove Osama bin Laden was behind the attack. If that is indeed the case, he (and anyone who helped in the planning and execution of the plan) should face severe justice. However, our pursuit of that justice shouldn't cost the lives of any innocent people. I heard a congressman (I wish I made note of his name) say that we shouldn't hesitate to use deadly force against the people responsible, even if it meant killing innocent civilians of another country because "they" didn't have any compunction about killing our innocents. Nevermind the obvious fact that he was lumping guilty and innocent together in his use of "they" (lumping all Muslims, Afghanis, or whoever he actually meant) as if the innocent civilians of some Arab nation ordered the attack, the very idea that perpetuating the cycle of violence, that creating more embittered orphans, would somehow make things right is patently ridiculous. Sickeningly ridiculous.
There's also the talk of holding the nations that harbor terrorists responsible for the actions of those terrorists. I agree that governments sponsoring or sheltering terrorists should be held accountable and complicit, but we should be very careful in determining how we deliver justice. Sparking a war that would cost more lives does nothing to honor our dead. Also, there is our government's role in the sponsorship of terrorism and oppression around the world to consider, specifically our prior support of bin Laden and our support of the Taliban -- there's that whole thing about glass-house dwellers and stone throwing.
Ethel the Blog has some excellent links and commentary, well worth checking out. I've written more (from a different angle) at my side-blog,
Sports Takes. Mark has some commentary up now at
Cheek.