Amos said what I wanted to say, probably better than I could have. So I just want to add my voice to his. Intelligent people can disagree on this, and I respect those on the Mudcat and elsewhere who advocate a nonviolent response to this act. But I believe that the attack was so horrendous, and so deliberate and carefully planned, that we (I am a US citizen) need to respond militarily to try to stop the people who organized this and are threatening to carry out similar attacks in the future. I pray we will be successful, and I am encouraged by the intelligence and thoughtfulness which our leaders have displayed thus far.

I believe that we should simultaneously be looking for root causes, reexamining assumptions about the USA's role in world affairs, and making adjustments to our foreign policies and practices where warranted. But I also truly believe that we need to take these people out, and be quick about it.

I also have to say that I'm pretty disappointed in the Nobel laureates for this statement (I am assuming it is legitimate). I'm all in favor of discussing and debating the various courses of action available to us, but is holding a conference and issuing a statement really all they can come up with for an action plan? Maybe they ought to think a little more about this. It's all very nice to say you're in favor of peace (most of us would say that), but the devil is in the details, and so far it looks like these folks haven't come up with much.