This is a huge deal. Never has there been a terrorist attack of this magnitude in history. And because relations have been on the edge with many middle-east countries for so long, we need to be very careful with this. I'm scared to see what President Bush is going to do. I think retaliation caould be a mistake if we let it get out of hand. A real war could open up very easily. It makes me realize just how vulnerable we really are, and all this talk of security and safety is mostly just an illusion.

It's easy to point fingers and blame people because of anger and American pride, but we need to realize that these kinds of attacks are brought about by small groups of radicals and not entire countries, even though they harbor these terrorists and there is a general hatred for the U.S. in that region. Knowing that Osama Bin-Laden may be a leader for many of these groups, we should definately go after him and any associated people, but we need to be very careful about it. If our emotions get the best of us, then we lose sight of reality and no one wins.

We should learn from this event and try to strengthen our weak areas while taking necessary precautions to prevent future incidents like this. If we as a nation and a world do not change our current methods of dealing with each other, then things will only escalate because of retaliation. Look at what's happening between Israelites and Palestinians. It's just an endless circle of payback and revenge. It solves nothing. If we don't change, then all the lives lost today will have been wasted and dishonored.

May God be with the victims and their families of this horrible tragedy.

- Erik Hagen (ekstasis16@hotmail.com)

[Edited by ekstasis16 on 09-12-2001 at 02:27 AM]