If the actions against us were intended--by a faction of madmen *not representative of Islam--to produce a conflict that could be defined as one between the Islamic world as infidels, then we are best advised to respond judiciously and with great restraint. A counter attack against this crime must be conducted in terms of the justice of civil-society, for it is civil society that is under attack. We cannot accept was has been thrust upon us with carnage and destruction in terms defined by our adversaries. To do so would be to hand them victory and threatens destruction beside which yesterdays would pale to vanishing. This is not a muslim assault against civil society. It was an action of madmen and fanatics. Terrorism, if it can be, must be ended, but not by perpetrating terror on others.

There can be no question that governments harboring criminals of this kind can and must be treated as criminal.

Any suggestion that we use nuclear weapons is, if real, insane and if in bluff, irresponsible beyond belief.

Any threat against civilian populations would be criminal.

The United States will need to respond. How, I do not know. And I worry that there is sufficient wisdom in Washington.