Somewhere in the world, a group -- and maybe some nations -- declared war on the United States. They hijacked four domestic flights and then used two to destroy the World Trade Center in New York City and one to devastate the Pentagon. A fourth crashed outside of Pittsburgh.

It is not terrorism. This is war.

Thousands are dead. Actually, it's probably in the tens of thousands. Against, at least in two cases, civilian targets. Innocent men, women and children have had their lives snuffed out by madmen. Millions -- nay, billions -- of dollars in property has been destroyed. And who knows how much information was lost.

No, this is not terrorism. This is war.

And America must act accordingly.

Now these individuals are cowards. They hide in the dark backwaters of the world, but they must be made to pay for their crime. And if anyone is foolish enough to stand between American and these madmen, then they should know that they will be knocked aside.

This is not terrorism. This is war.

The most important thing is that we save those folks we can. The second is that we learn what happened. And the third is that we seek our righteous vengeance. Some may say that hunting down the individuals who did this -- and always remember that individuals are ultimately responsible for this -- will accomplish nothing. It will not prevent future attacks, and might create martyrs that will inspire more attacks. To that I say this: mad men will always attack the United States. What we accomplish in pursing justice is to confirm our values, not there. We are a civilized nation. And we will prove it.

But what we must not do is sacrifice all that is good in America in order to defeat terrorists. To throw away our rights -- such as was done with the