On the risk of the war

The leaders of the military and political campaign against Afghanistan are facing a new dilemma -- how much longer can victory be delayed?

In the last few days the major American news organizations have started reflecting an increasingly divided opinion on the campaign.

Some evoke the rise of the ghost of Vietnam, others remember that the war in Kosovo also risked being bogged down. But these comparisons are inadequate -- never before has American public opinion experienced fear at home.

Fear? We would be fools not to have it. Compassion for the innocent victims? Impossible to not harbor it, because the war against terrorism must remain an expression and not a negation of our values. Desire for victory, impatience at the lack of results in the field of war? This is an understandable error.

Understandable because we all want to put behind us the horrific image of Sept. 11. But we have erred in our haste, as have the Americans, because without composed awareness and courage the defensive war against terrorism cannot gain results and may not even be won. Liberal democracies need to allow criticism and doubt to emerge yet we mustn't allow fear or impatience to concede victory to Osama bin Laden.

-- Corriere della Sera, Milan, Italy