U.S. response is measured, appropriate

Many Americans shared a collective reaction when terrorists struck American targets on Sept. 11:

Let's go after the Arab madmen, and let's hit Afghanistan -- the nation harboring Osama bin Laden -- with everything we've got.

Truth is, we didn't immediately know for sure if Middle Eastern Islamic fanatics were responsible for or if bin Laden was the mastermind of these tragic events which left more than 6,000 innocent Americans dead. Even so, the instinct of a battered nation was to exact revenge.

Fortunately, as it turns out, cooler heads in the Bush administration prevailed. Even though the terrorist attacks constituted no less than an act of war, we are still a nation in which liberty thrives because justice is universal, even when it applies to evil.

In the month since Sept. 11, America has methodically pursued information that would lead to the ringleaders of the attack and would help shape an appropriate response. It became clear within a short time that bin Laden and his gang were behind these tragic events. Afghanistan's ruling Taliban was given ample opportunity to respond.

In the absence of even a shred of cooperation from the Taliban, the United States gave plenty of warning that retaliation was on the way.

Consistently, U.S. officials have carefully delineated between those responsible for terrorism and those who happen to occupy Afghanistan by virtue of the fact that it is their homeland. The targets of U.S. reprisals are the terrorists, not the Afghan people.

To this end, the military response has been two-pronged. On the one hand, bombs are reducing the Afghan military structure to rubble. On the other hand, shipments of food and medical supplies are being dropped from the air by U.S. planes, mainly to the heavy concentrations of refugees who seek to get out of harm's way.

There are voices of confusion, even among Americans, over this approach to ferreting out the terrorist leaders who have chosen to hide like cowards in the desolate Afghan countryside. These voices aver that the barrage of bombs and the air drops of food send a mixed message that undermines the American cause. Sends a mixed message to whom? The possibility of misunderstanding exists only among those who believe the terrorists and the Afghan people are one and the same.

Clearly, the United States is making every effort to ensure to the world and to Moslems in particular that this is not a religious retaliation. Our only interest is finding those responsible for terrorism and dealing with them accordingly. In that regard, the strongest nation on Earth has shown its ability to act with measured calculation.