I remember when Pulitzer Prize winning columnist Mike Royko of the Chicago Sun-Times (maybe he had switched to the Chicago Tribune by then) publicly blamed the Arabs in his column after the Oklahoma City bombing. He had to eat major crow after McVeigh was arrested, though his apology came off as lame and hollow. While it's an easy assumption to make, from an American point of view, we have no facts as to who the true perpetrators really are; all we can do is speculate. Right now, they are the most logical of suspects but, as has already been pointed out, which cell or faction? We're hated by pretty much everybody over there.

I used to work for the Chicago Board of Trade and have friends who work in the Sears Tower. I fear for the future of ex-coworkers and long-time friends. Right now my wife is shaking because my wife, children and I just flew from Chicago to Austin yesterday on our return trip from a family vacation on American Airlines. Her brother, who is visiting her family while vacationing from his job in SE Germany, is scheduled to fly home this coming Sunday. If he's grounded for an extra week or two, he won't mind since he's staying at his parents' house, but his employer may not be very open-minded.