U.S. took right steps in strike

After weeks of threatening action, the United States and Great Britain have finally attacked Afghanistan. Sunday afternoon, president Bush and other U.S. officials briefed the public about the first of the on-going strikes targeting the Taliban regime in Kabul and other strategic areas. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said within the first three hours 50 Tomahawk cruise missiles were fired by U.S. warships and a British submarine -- and many more are sure to follow. \nAs horrible as more violence is, the Taliban has been given many, many chances to turn over Osama bin Laden. They were told within days of the Sept. 11 attack that handing over bin Laden was the only way to avoid a full U.S. retaliation -- there were to be no negotiations. And now it has been nearly a month and Afghanistan is just seeing the first direct military assault. \nSome would say that the retaliation comes too late and should have happened weeks ago, but the U.S. did the right thing in waiting. Officials took time to rally international support and continued to collect evidence against bin Laden and his Al Qaeda regime before taking action. They wanted to be sure that when a move was made that is was done right, and with the force of the world behind it. \nThe Taliban and bin Laden have declared this a "holy war" against the U.S., but this is anything but that. The U.S. is home to many religious groups, and embraces our Islamic brothers and sisters. The U.S. is also concerned about the Afghan people and said this is not a war against them, but terrorism. The U.S. pledged $320 million in humanitarian aid to Afghan refugees. Immediately after the strikes began, the U.S. dropped food, medicine and other supplies for the Afghan people to help them survive through the coming winter.\nWe must all remember that this fight is between the world and the repressive hate that the Taliban embodies. \n