By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

              VIEQUES, Puerto Rico (AP) -- The terrorist attacks in the United States
              have stirred a quiet tension on the Puerto Rican island of Vieques, where
              residents who have lived unhappily with decades of U.S. Navy bombing
              exercises are now at odds over how to respond.

              While the guided missile cruiser USS Vicksburg fired non-explosive 5-inch
              shells at the Navy's firing range on the U.S. island Tuesday, shopkeeper
              Miguel Perez sold newspapers with headlines describing an imminent war
              against terrorism.

              During past Navy training, Perez sang protest songs. But this time, with the
              U.S. military gearing up for what President Bush has said will be an
              exhaustive campaign against terrorism, he said protesting just doesn't seem
              right.

              ``The exercises began, and I don't even feel upset,'' he said. ``Everything has
              its time.''

              The Navy has used a tip of Vieques as a bombing range for six decades,
              training sailors for conflicts from World War II to the Persian Gulf War.
              Opponents say the bombardment harms the environment on Vieques and the
              health of its 9,100 residents. The Navy denies those allegations.

              The latest exercises began Monday with non-explosive ammunition. The
              Navy used live bombs until a Marine jet dropped two bombs off target in
              1999, killing a Puerto Rican guard on the range and igniting a storm of
              protest that has continued ever since.

              After the terrorist attacks, most protest groups agreed not to force their way
              onto Navy lands as they have during past exercises, when hundreds have
              been arrested for trespassing, prosecuted and jailed.

              On Tuesday, small groups prayed for world peace outside Navy fences. A
              few disagreed on scaling back protests.

              ``I don't understand why one act of terrorism justifies another,'' said Miguel
              Gonzalez Rodriguez.

              Opponents of the Navy exercises have called for an islandwide strike Oct. 4
              that would close businesses, schools and government offices. But some
              argue it would hurt the island's struggling businesses -- not the Navy.

              Navy supporter Charlotte Ballard, a South African-born U.S. citizen who
              lives on Vieques, said some business owners felt intimidated by protesters
              into participating.

              ``I think they're absolutely wrong saying 'Navy get out' now that there is a
              worldwide emergency,'' said Ballard, a retired home builder.

              Some Vieques residents have reported family members missing in the ruins of
              the World Trade Center, and islanders across the political spectrum have
              expressed sorrow at the attacks.

              But fisherman Juan Quesada said getting the Navy to leave Vieques is more
              important to him than a distant war against terrorists.

              ``You have to look at your house first before looking out at the street,'' he
              said, echoing a widely held view that was also reflected by columnist J.M.
              Garcia Passalacqua, who wrote in Sunday's San Juan Star newspaper,
              ``World War III, I must state, is not my war.''

              In a nonbinding referendum in July, 68 percent of Vieques voters said the
              Navy should leave immediately.

              A binding federal referendum originally scheduled for November would ask
              islanders whether the Navy should leave in 2003 or stay, resume live
              bombing and pay $50 million for infrastructure and public works projects.
              But on Tuesday night, the House of Representatives approved a defense bill
              that would cancel the referendum and require the Navy to continue training
              on Vieques until a comparable site is found.

              A similar amendment proposed in the Senate was withdrawn. The House
              and Senate are to work out the final wording of the law in a conference
              committee in the coming weeks. Anibal Acevedo Vila, Puerto Rico's
              nonvoting representative in Congress, said his delegation would lobby for the
              Vieques issue to be dropped from the bill, allowing the referendum to go
              ahead.