Weighing Calls for Retaliation

Some have said that if we, the U.S., accidentally kill civilians of other nations in our efforts to defend ourselves, then we are doing the same thing as the terrorists. This is not true. The terrorists targeted our civilians. We will be targeting the terrorists and those who harbor them. There may be some civilian casualties on their side as a result of our actions. But we cannot put their civilians ahead of our own. This is war, and we must defend ourselves.

Vik Rubenfeld

Santa Monica

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What evokes greater horror--instantly snuffing out thousands of lives in this country to destroy centers of financial and military might or slowly snuffing out millions of lives around the world to maintain centers of financial and military might?

Carol Holst

Glendale

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The greatest mistake we could make would be to treat terrorism as we have heretofore done--as individual crimes to be dealt with by the civilian justice system. All terrorists must be treated collectively as a quasi-state that has declared war on this country. Our retaliation must be directed against all of them, irrespective of who was responsible for this particular attack. It is too late for the states that have harbored them to satisfy justice merely by surrendering the terrorists. We must insist on measures to prevent further terrorism--up to and including occupation.

Thomas Eastmond

Newport Beach

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Passions and patriotism can cloud our thinking and blind us to the evil of our actions; those who committed these horrific acts were not necessarily evil people. If we, in a rush to retribution, were to strike at the wrong target--people who did not plan, support or applaud these crimes--then we in turn would commit great evil.

Maureen McConaghy

Orange