WASHINGTON – Maine lawmakers reacted with horror and anger Wednesday to the death and destruction at New York’s World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

“This was an act of war, and we will respond as such,” said Rep. John Baldacci of the terrorist attacks while speaking on the House floor.

Such were the words used by many members of Congress as they considered official resolutions condemning what is now noted as one of the worst days of carnage in American history.

Baldacci, along with lawmakers from around the nation, vowed support for tracking down those responsible for the attacks and any who may have harbored and supported them to “ensure that they are swiftly and severely punished.”

At the other side of the Capitol, Sen. Olympia Snowe echoed similar convictions Wednesday afternoon as a parade of senators took moments to individually condemn the attacks.

“This outrageous attack has reverberated through every level of our society,” Snowe said. “Let the word go forth from the halls of Congress, from the White House and from every house across our indomitable nation: We will find who is responsible, we will hold them accountable, and we will persevere.”

As members endorsed the resolutions, many also took part in a series of security briefings and meetings about the attacks with Cabinet officials, Attorney General John Ashcroft and FBI Director Robert Mueller.

Sen. Susan Collins, a member of the Senate Armed Services subcommittee on emerging threats, was among the first to speculate soon after the attack on Tuesday that Islamic extremist Osama bin Laden may be the perpetrator.

“I suspect that he will turn out to be the mastermind,” she said. “He commands the wealth, resources, expertise and evil intent to pull this off – but obviously I don’t know that for certain.”

Many now mention bin Laden as the number-one suspect in the attacks.

“We must respond to these horrors in ways befitting our voice as a free and united people,” Collins said. “But let there be no doubt. Respond we must, and respond we shall.”

Many lawmakers, including Rep. Tom Allen, turned to the words of Winston Churchill, the inspiring prime minister of Great Britain during World War II who defied Nazi Germany’s stranglehold on Europe.

“We have not journeyed all this way across the centuries, across the oceans, across the mountains, across the prairies because we are made of sugar candy,” Allen said, recalling Winston Churchill. He then added in his own words:

“In truth, the people of this country are big in heart and strong in character. We will maintain our open society and fight terrorism around the globe with freedom loving peoples everywhere. And we will prevail.”