Cheers, with caution, greet news of strikes

Cheers of "USA! USA!" echoed through football stadiums at news that U.S. forces had launched strikes in Afghanistan. In Denver, a woman who fled as a child from Vietnam ruefully wished that war could be avoided.

Across the nation, widespread support for the counterattack against terrorism was coupled with wide-ranging worries.

The president of the Mormon church choked with emotion as he reported the U.S. strikes to a conference of the faithful in Salt Lake City.

"Occasions of this kind pull us up sharply to the realization that life is fragile, that peace is fragile, that civilization is fragile," said Gordon B. Hinckley.

At a peace rally in Philadelphia -- that coincidentally began just as the attacks were announced -- student Janice Williams wept.

"Why are we fighting hate with hate?" she asked. "There's just going to be more innocent people slaughtered, both here and in the Middle East."

Tens of thousands of Americans heard the news while packed into stadiums for National Football League games and the close of baseball's regular season.

The start of the Philadelphia Eagles' NFL game against Arizona at Veterans Stadium was delayed nine minutes as President Bush's announcement of the strikes was shown on the big screen. The crowd of more than 64,000 cheered when they saw images of military action.

At Miller Park in Milwaukee, baseball fans didn't see Bush on the scoreboard, but subdued players watched on clubhouse televisions.

"We all knew it was going to happen," said Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Mike De Jean. "Baseball has been secondary since Sept. 11. I think we all want to get home and be with our families in times like this."

The news soon spread into the stands.

"It's about time," said Dan Scheuerer of Beaver Dam, Wis. "I hope we get (Osama) bin Laden. I also hope we can minimize the damage to innocent people."

Tom Scriven was at a mall in Providence, R.I., not at a stadium, but he used a sports metaphor in referring to America's adversaries.

"They wanted to play the game, and now the score is tied," Scriven said. "It's good. We should do it again."

In Atlanta, Vietnam veteran William McGill said the United States "should have gone in a long time ago and taken care of business."

"Even at my age I am willing to go," said McGill, 55. "I believe in my liberty and my freedom. If they need me, I'm there for them."

The news saddened Lan To, 25, of Estes Park, Colo., a schoolteacher whose family fled from Vietnam when she was 2.

"We're in this country because we were leaving a war," she said.