CLEARING THE WAY
Washington Post: Those tinted flashes of light on television screens Sunday were a familiar sight as U.S.-led forces launched an air campaign under cover of darkness in Afghanistan. But there were abundant signs that this offensive would be unlike the much-televised pounding of Yugoslavia and Iraq, or even the last cruise missile strike in Afghanistan three years ago. These missiles and bombs were merely the most visible part of what officials describe as a considerably broader assault on the terrorists based in Afghanistan and the Taliban authorities who support them. President Bush said the strikes were "designed to clear the way for sustained, comprehensive and relentless operations." What we saw were flashes of an offensive that likely will take on several other forms and that could well be longer, more difficult and more costly than any of the air power-driven conflicts of the last decade.
Though the risks are surely higher, so is the justification and sense of purpose with which the United States begins this Afghan campaign. It is, first of all, a legitimate act of self-defense directed against the sponsors of the bloodiest attack ever against the U.S. homeland. It is also part of an offensive against an international plague, the Al-Qaida terrorist network of Osama bin Laden -- an offensive that has won the support of NATO, the United Nations and scores of governments around the world including more than 40 that granted air transit or landing rights to U.S. aircraft. The broad support is one dividend of the Bush administration's decision to hold off on military action for almost four weeks while building a coalition and collecting and disseminating evidence of Al-Qaida's involvement in the Sept. 11 attacks. Another such dividend can be seen in the careful coordination of the visible parts of Sunday's operation; even as cruise missiles were knocking out the lights in Kabul and Kandahar, U.S. planes were dropping thousands of rations of food and medicine for Afghanistan's displaced and hungry population.
Televised war: The importance of the humanitarian leg of the operation was underscored by the other part of Sunday's televised war, the competing addresses of Mr. Bush and Osama bin Laden. Within hours of Mr. Bush's live appearance from the White House, al Qaeda's leader was seen delivering his own statement on the Middle East's most-watched television network, in which he claimed that the United States had launched a war against Islam that had "divided the world into two camps." Mr. Bush rightly took pains to refute that lie, saying that the enemy of the United States is not the Afghan people or the world's billion Muslims but "the barbaric criminals who profane a great religion by committing murder in its name."
The broad coalition supporting and participating in the offensive showed that this is not a fight of America against the world but of the world against lawlessness. Some nations may join in because they fear the terrorists; some, because they want to stay on America's good side. But most -- the allies who can be counted on over time -- join in because they understand the importance of the values that came under attack Sept. 11.
In the weeks ahead the United States may need to take further action that risks causing casualties and invites international criticism. It must not flinch from any military measure necessary to destroy the Al-Qaida network and remove the Taliban authorities that have bonded with it. The administration must also act aggressively to defend the United States from further attacks and talk to Americans about the risks. But as Sunday's events made clear, the humanitarian and political elements of the campaign will be critical. Even as it justifiably attacks Osama bin Laden and his network, the anti-terrorist alliance -- and especially the Islamic leaders among it -- must act decisively to defeat his attempt to distort Islam and deceive its followers. The real division, as President Bush said, is between civilized people and "the outlaws and killers of innocents"; and it is in that choice that there is no neutral ground.
THE U.S. STRIKES BACK
Scripps Howard: The 26 days between the terrorist attacks on America and U.S. military action in Afghanistan were days well spent. The Bush administration gave the Taliban every chance in the world to cooperate, it was able to plan carefully where best to hit first, it lined up hugely important support not only from our most ready ally, Britain, but also received pledges of military assistance from Australia, Canada, Germany and France.
Most of the world is with the United States, even as Osama bin Laden is taped saying we are doomed to live in fear until his Hitlerian dreams are fulfilled. In fact, the U.S. citizenry is on the front line in this new kind of war we are in; the chances of an attempt at retaliatory terrorism within the country are 100 percent, the government says.
In nuclear-armed Pakistan, the government arrested a militant, anti-American leader as one of several measures aimed at thwarting the possibilities of overthrow, thereby reminding one and all of how a dangerous situation could become more dangerous still.
Patience: The dangers will not go away soon. This war will not be short-lived. That we all know by now. U.S. attacks will be continuing for some time, President Bush said in his Sunday speech announcing the attack on Taliban air bases and other military facilities. It will be important for the American people to have courage and it will be important to have patience, just as most people seemed to have shown patience since the horror of Sept. 11. The point, after all, is not to do things quickly; the point is to be as effective as possible in attempting to eradicate terrorist networks and the governments supporting them.
We seem to be in good hands with the Bush administration, which has so far been as methodical as it is determined both in exercising preventive care at home and in proceeding prudently abroad. The administration also seems to know that this nation must do its best to prevent suffering by the innocent.
The U.S. food drop to Afghan refugees in some ways serves our interests, of course, but it is also the right step to take. Those refugees are human beings in miserable circumstances they themselves did not create. We must care. And we do.