Newspapers sound off on national tragedy

What we live with now, beyond shock and beyond the courage witnessed on the streets in New York and Washington yesterday, is an urge for reprisal. But this is an age when even revenge is complicated, when it is hard to match the desire for retribution with the need for certainty. We suffer from an act of war without any enemy nation with which to do battle.

-- The New York Times

On the first dawn after this day without parallel, a nation proud of its capacity to conquer crisis faces an unprecedented challenge. America's middle-aged generation has often pondered, with a mix of relief and shame, how it has never been tested the way its parents were. Well, now comes the test. Not a clarion call to action, but a test of judgment: What is the noblest path out of the rubble?

-- Philadelphia Inquirer

Make no mistake: War has been declared against the United States. Our response must show our resolve, our absolute commitment to fight back when an enemy makes a direct attack on us. Our attackers showed no regard for either military codes of conduct or innocent human life.

-- San Francisco Chronicle

The horrific terrorist attacks yesterday in New York and Washington will rank as one of the greatest calamities in American history, and will confront the United States with one of its most demanding challenges.... The response today must be as decisive -- to the mass murderers who planned and carried out the attack, and to any nation or nations that gave them shelter and encouragement.

-- The Washington Post

The day after the last date fated to live in infamy, the president of the United States went before Congress and made it clear that the war just begun would be ended on America's terms. Then, sunken battleships belches smoke at Pearl Harbor. Today, the World Trade Center lies in ruins, and the Pentagon smolders. Nothing less than unconditional victory was acceptable siz decades ago. Nor is it today. The president said last night that America was attacked "because it is a beacon of freedom" in the world. Just so. Now it's time to fight back.

-- The New York Post

[F]ear is not new to the nation, nor has controlling it proved difficult, no matter the scale. Instead, shock and tears dominated TV screens as the scale of the horor unfolded -- a picture of America mourning for countrymen slaughtered by zealots of unknown stripe. When the mourning ends, the tears will turn swiftly to anger, and how that anger is managed may define the way America lives for years to come.

-- USA Today

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