AND SO the long aftermath begins. In the bleak days after the terrorist atrocity in New York, sorrow and fury find their place as explanations are sought and vengeance is demanded.

The sheer human scale of the outrage in Manhattan emerges by the hour, as distraught New Yorkers wait outside hospitals for news or walk the streets holding photographs of those they fear may have been lost.

Many thousands have surely been killed in the attack on New York. The heart-breaking process of trying to identity the dead goes on today and for many days to come.

Sympathy for the victims of the attack and those left bereft reaches round the world and touches many in this country, including those in York who have left messages of condolence in York Minster.

Grief extends to this country too in the certain knowledge that very many Britons lost their lives in this orchestrated catastrophe.

Home Secretary Jack Straw said today that the British death toll was around 100 but may yet reach the "middle hundreds".

It is understood that 100 British victims have already been identified from the attacks on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon.

As the full horror continues to unfold, the American security services are putting every conceivable effort into finding those responsible.

Prime Minister Tony Blair has stood firmly alongside President Bush, backing US reprisals.

This is as it should be, for the assault on the heart of the United States is an attack on us all - it is a threat to life and liberty everywhere.

This does not make the American response any easier to gauge.

Beating the terrorists is the simple aim and one with which no one could possibly disagree.

However, there is a need for caution as the US decides how and when to act. For as yet, America is at war - in all but the strictly legal sense - with an unknown and unidentified enemy, although many believe the Saudi millionaire terrorist Osama bin Laden to have been the architect of the world's worst terrorist atrocity.

There is fierce pressure within the US for a swift and brutal response. President Bush has pledged such action but, to his credit, he appears to accept that a degree of caution is necessary, pointing out that "this battle will take time and resolve".

Dropping bombs will make many Americans feel better, but such action in itself will not necessarily curb world terrorism or remove the possibility of further attacks.

These are dark days and a steady hand is needed.

Updated: 10:13 Thursday, September 13, 2001