U. students agree retaliation is likely

College sophomore Aaron Foss explains that a number of his friends, all recent college graduates, joke with him that they are considering a return to school -- in order to avoid getting drafted.

Fear of a potential military draft was just one of the many reactions and concerns that Penn students had about the recent attacks against New York and Washington.

With President Bush calling Tuesday's events the "first war of the 21st century" and pledging the focus of his administration on winning the war against terrorism, students believe some form of military response is warranted.

"There's going to have to be some sort of hunting down process," College sophomore David Herman said. "I think there should be retaliation."

Other echoed those sentiments.

"I think the U.S. should approach revenge with full force against anyone who's harboring terrorists or terrorists themselves," Engineering sophomore Adnan Aziz said.

But Aziz warned against religious intolerance toward Muslims.

"Innocent people who care just as much as everyone else are being lumped in this category," Aziz said, citing recent events in cities across the nation, such as in San Francisco, where a man was attacked with a machete in an alleged racially motivated incident.

Many students say the government should practice restraint.

"I just hope they don't try to combat evil with evil," College freshman Matthew Tucker said.

"We got to be able to see this from an international point of view," College junior Malcolm Brown added. "I think we definitely need to cool down."

Others say the United States should punish only the culprits -- not the innocent citizens of the countries in which those culprits happen to live.

"We need time to find out who is responsible," College junior Ben Rowe said. "Single out who's responsible and punish them."

"Don't blow up a part of the world right away," he cautioned.

Some students worried about retaliation without evidence that the terrorist strikes were state-sponsored.

College senior Nawshin Ali said that the U.S. government should verify state sponsorship.

"If there is sponsorship, we have to take action," Ali said. "The American public would demand a military response."

Some students were questioning what they perceive as the government's quick finger-pointing.

"It looks like it's going toward Afghanistan right now," first-year Wharton MBA student Keet Wong said.

"I'm not sure if it's justified or not," Wong added.

Ali was worried about President Bush's position on retaliation.

"The reaction is understandable, but Bush's stance worries me," she said. "Get the facts straight before declaring war."

College sophomore Socrates Papazoglou said that much can be learned from the attacks on Tuesday.

"I hope that all these deaths that happened in the World Trade Center and in Washington don't go down in vain," he said. "In terms of either defense or foreign policy, we know that we have to be more careful in every situation."

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