Wednesday, October 10, 2001

Terror victims express concerns about strikes
By Jeff Donn
Associated Press

BOSTON — There was no rush of joy, not even a quiet sense of revenge. With U.S. forces finally targeting terrorists who killed her husband, Christie Coombs was more anxious than ever for herself and her children.

“We were fearful of what life’s going to be like without their father and my husband. Now, we’re fearful of what life’s going to be like for the whole country. My kids fear a world war,” said Jeffrey Coombs’ widow, of Abington, Mass.

Her 42-year-old husband, a security analyst for Compaq Computer Corp., died aboard one of the hijacked jetliners from Boston that rammed into New York’s World Trade Center on Sept. 11.

While welcoming the American military campaign, some relatives of the victims that day are now filled with more misgivings and questions, too. Will American forces find the right people — and how many of them? Will terrorists retaliate first? Will our children go to war? Will more civilians turn into targets, here by design or there by mistake?

Janet Flyzik of Parsonfield, Maine, did not endorse quick retaliation, even though her 40-year-old daughter Carol, of Plaistow, N.H., died on the same plane as Coombs.

She was glad when action finally came, though.

“I think people need to be accountable for their actions and need to be brought to justice,” she said. “If we don’t, everyone is going to continue to live in fear.”

Coombs’ widow also hopes for justice, though she isn’t sure if that should be death at the hands of American forces or prison. Even so, she worries about Afghan civilians.

Killing them could “put us on the same scale” as the terrorists and the government that harbors them, she says.

For her, the bombardments also mean she must work harder to keep her three children on their daily routines and her 13-year-old son away from too many television news reports. She took him to a Boston Bruins hockey game Monday — something his father used to do.

“I think it’s just adding more fear into their lives,” she said of her children.

Donna Teepe, also a Sept. 11 widow, is worried about her son, too. At 22, he is old enough to serve in the military, and would even be subject to the draft if it were reinstated. She wonders how his life may be changed by the U.S. attack on the terrorists.

“Yes, we need to do something, so these people can’t control our lives,” she said.

“But I also don’t want a situation where my 22-year-old son and other boys will have to go and fight.”

His father, Karl W. Teepe of Centreville, Va., a civilian employee at the Pentagon, died in the attack there.

At times, Harriet Fuller, of Framingham, Mass., feels that the U.S. military should bear down on the terrorists — whatever the cost. “I’m sure a lot of people feel that, yes, they should go ahead, regardless, and get these fellows. In a way, I feel that, too,” she said.

Her daughter, Meta Waller, died at her civilian staff job for the Army when one of the hijacked jets dived into the Pentagon.

She wants results, above all else, from the military campaign. “I just felt that, OK, if this could be stopped so it wouldn’t happen again anywhere, that was good,” she said.

Yet Fuller can’t shake the thought of more civilians dying. “What about the people in Afghanistan that might innocently be hurt, just like so many of the victims in the United States?” she asked.

She is certain U.S. military plans will not be “ruthless” toward civilians, but she’s still troubled. In the end, she is finding even more questions than a few days ago. “The whole thing is so overwhelming that one minute you think you understand it — and then you don’t.”