With regard to Joel K's 'Time for America to retaliate' (Sept 21), every soul on this fine earth were utterly horrified and symphatise with families who are affected by the nihilistic act in New York City. However, there are several points to ponder before any chest-thumping and war-drum-beating is to start.

To retaliate is human nature and as US president George W Bush put it, "We shall bring justice to them".

But to whom? Osama bin Laden is just one recognisable face among countless other faceless individuals in this so-called Al Qaeda terrorist network. It's like a hydra - chopping one head will sprout two more.

And to where? Afghanistan? A country mired in internal fighting where nothing is of social and economic value to target upon. As one US senator eloquently said when asked to comment on attacking Afghanistan, "To make a smaller rubble from bigger rubble."

How about states who "harbour terrorists"? End them? Bomb Libya? Iraq? Iran? And risk an escalation of domestic terror unparalleled in the history of the US? It is a fine line that divides collateral damage and innocent lives. An overstep can turn the tides of war.

Issue an ultimatum? Wanted dead or alive? The Taliban know that they are innocent and further welcome the military might of America so that they will be able to die as syuhada. They embrace martyrdom in which dying in battle is an eagerly anticipated option. To them, to die means to leave all the difficulties of life in Afghanistan.

For how long? How long does the US need to fight? Does it have the stamina to fight a protracted war? Unless it changes its foreign policies, thousands other displaced, starving young adults in the Middle East salivate in thinking where and when next to attack "the Great Satan".

The stock markets have tumbled with movements never seen since the Depression in 1920s. The Dow plunged 15 percent in a week! Seventy thousand airline jobs were axed and the whole American lifestyle changed overnight.

In the latest headlines, the Golden Gate Bridge is off-limits to pedestrians; Disney and Universal Studios are closed, too. A Humvee at every major intersection in Washington. Armed guards in aircraft with heightened security checks at every major public area. Major sporting events cancelled. Increase in sectarian and jingoistic attacks. This sounds more like Beirut with its Hamas and Hizbullah and worse than Belfast with its Irish Republican Army. Can Americans really endure this?

With all these questions in mind, Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and State Secretary Colin Powell will sit with National Security Adviser Condoleeza Rice a bit longer in the Situation Room of the White House.