Len,

>I know the true grief belongs mainly to you Americans, but there were people of all nationalities killed and the consequences of your response to the atrocity will affect the whole world.

You're correct of course, but sometimes it's better to be wise than correct... I'm American, but I didn't want to correct the author (Canadian I believe) who said that Germany hadn't payed interest on the Marshall plan. Everything was payed back in the fifties. But somehow I didn't think people would care about exact historical accuracy at the moment. Give us a couple days to recover!

We in the US also have to remember the first world war. after the Archduke was assassinated the whole civilized world expressed their disgust with the assassination and solidarity. But... that sympathy disappeared with record swiftness. We have to be aware that our allies will not go along with everything that we want. They don't feel it in the same way: no more would I really be able to feel a French persons grief if someone piled a 767 into Versaille or the British parliament. The fact that american's would also be killed (particularly at Versaille!) wouldn't change this difference.

I know plenty of american's who would say "so what! We don't need those pansy europeans!" at this heated moment, but aside from the short term gratification of blowing up one of bin Laden's camps we are in for a long struggle that will require the assistance of our allies. Almost certainly the attack was staged from one of our allies: the previous World Trade episode involved Canada and this one seems to involve both Canada and Germany. Tracking down and eliminating the financial resources of the bastards will certainly also require the assistance of the entire world. Creating the political pressure on Pakistan will also be a lot easier if the Europeans are on board.