American President George W. Bush has married the emotive rhetoric of "barbarism" and "evildoers" with the gruesome image of women's throats being slit to build his case for retribution.
Words and phrases such as "appalled, outraged, unbelievable, beyond comprehension" and "evil in the extreme" have rolled off Mr Bush's tongue regularly since the hijacked aircraft last week slammed into New York and Washington and he blandly referred to "those folks" responsible.
The Texan, who describes himself as a plain-spoken man, sought to prove it at the Pentagon in front of the nation's top military brass with a metaphor from the Wild West.
Although he lacked the white hat and silver star, the President sounded just like the town sheriff when he suggested that he wanted Osama bin Laden, the exiled Saudi dissident who is a prime suspect in the atrocities, "dead or alive".
"When I was a kid I remember the 'wanted' poster. It said, "Wanted, Dead or Alive," Mr Bush said. "All I want and America wants is to see them brought to justice."
