It's justifiable; but was it wise?

Guardian News Service London

On the day the twin towers crumbled, some said that a reflex counter-attack would come within hours. It did not. In the event, fully 26 days of intensive international pressure and planning passed before the United States launched its military response to the unprovoked slaughter of thousands of people in New York and Washington on Sept. 11.

On Sunday, under cover of darkness, America finally hit back, launching coordinated attacks on at least three major Afghan cities and other sites, in pursuit of what President George W. Bush described in a broadcast to the American nation as a carefully targeted action against Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda organization and against the Afghan Taliban regime which protects them.

From the moment that the terrorists first struck nearly four weeks ago, it has been clear that a just response to that attack was likely to involve some form of military action by the U.S. Now that moment has come and only a fool will not feel some fear. Tony Blair, the British prime minister, called it a moment of utmost gravity for the world.

There can be little doubt that Sunday's attacks were the second stage of possibly the most dangerous international crisis within many people's lifetimes, the most dangerous since the Cuban missile crisis of 1962. Let us pray that this one ends as peacefully as that one ultimately did.

At a time of such seriousness, it needs to be said as clearly and as unemotively as possible at the outset that the U.S. was entitled to launch a military response. The U.S., a nation at peace, was brutally attacked on Sept. 11 as it has never before been attacked in its history.

Though the precise nature of the conspiracy which ended in the deaths of thousands has not yet been fully unmasked, there is little doubt that bin Laden and Al Qaeda planned it or that their agents executed it under the protection of the Taliban regime, which continues to harbor them.

Offered the opportunity to hand over bin Laden and to act against his networks, and pressured to do so even by those closest to them, including Pakistan, the Afghan regime has refused. There is no question, therefore, but that a monstrous injustice against America remains unassauged. There is no question, either, but that it could happen again, possibly in an even more horrendous assault against ordinary life, involving chemical, biological or even nuclear weapons.

Those who have pointed out that the terrorists would have killed 70,000 if they could, rather than 7,000, are right. But the true figure is limitless. As long as that kind of danger -- that scale of evil -- remains loose in the world, then military action can be justified not just as an act of justice, but as an act of legitimate self defense to protect our nations from further attack and further casualties.

Whether this particular military action is wise is another matter. We hope, of course, that it is. That will depend above all upon whether the armed action strikes effectively at its targets. Against such an enemy, and on such terrain, there is no guarantee of that.

This is not going to be a computer game conflict, providing comfortable television viewing for those at home. Fighters on both sides are going to be killed, including quite possibly British forces, and it is by no means clear whether public opinion on both sides of the Atlantic -- which includes Muslim opinion -- is prepared for that.

Even then, there will be no meaningful military victory unless the inescapably grim consequences for those already hard-pressed people who are caught up in it can be minimized and effectively addressed as winter begins.

In this conflict, therefore, the aid is every bit as important as the armed action. But even these, difficult though they are, are not the only goals. As Blair carefully underlined on Sunday, there have to be three fronts in this campaign: military, humanitarian and, not to be forgotten, diplomatic.

Now that the military action has begun, it is more urgent, not less, to continue the diplomatic drive at the same time, including in the Middle East, and using the United Nations to the fullest possible extent at all times. Much of the world remains deeply skeptical about this campaign, to put it mildly.

Naturally, also, many will fear that its goals are unachievable. Nevertheless, judged by his words on Sunday, President Bush understands these truths much better than some of his critics have given him credit for.

In his broadcast, as he has done more often than not since Sept. 11, he repeated that the actions will be focused on terrorist assets and on the military capability of the Taliban. As the attacks began, he also promised drops of food, medicine and other supplies to Afghan civilians. Bush said the right words on Sunday. But words are the easy part. It is now for the U.S. military and their allies to put those words into action.

Nothing in the world is more important right now than that they succeed.