RE: What Repercussions? (Score 2, Interesting)

With regard to retaliation, I am left with only one thought: How many lives will it take to prove what the lives lost were worth?

There is a world of difference between retaliation and justice. I have little doubt that retaliation and additional loss of life will occur, but have reservations as to whether or not justice will truly be served in the process. This saddens me greatly.

With regard to the consequences of these attacks, I offer the following for consideration. Loss of innocence is the most striking casualty, regardless of the actual, final body count. The realization that horrifying events such as those witnessed today can happen here, on U.S. soil, is now a part of our national consciousness. The technology we rely upon on a daily basis for benign purposes has been successfully reinvented as devastating weaponry. How we deal with this loss of innocence, however, is what I believe to be of the greatest importance. The psychological ramifications of today's events will likely be years in the making; our cultural landscape will be undeniably altered.

I am a resident of Seattle. A little less than two years ago, residents of this city experienced the declaration of martial law in response to the WTO riots. While I am uncertain as to how we will respond to the terrorist acts experienced today, I have little doubt that the civil rights of our nation's average citizeny will be impacted. I hope that the decisions that are made for the purpose of ostensibly protecting our country are sensible ones; I fear, however, that instead we will lose something precious in the balance, that the freedoms we have long celebrated will be inexorably altered. In the wake of today's events, this is what I fear the most.