[The Reaper]

The Colonel and NDD touch on good points.

This is a war that will require multiple responses in different areas.

I see it as similar to trying to treat a disease, like cancer.

While you can relieve the pain and remove the tumor, you also need to treat the underlying cause without killing the patient. The patient is the global community, including the Muslims who do not threaten us.

Fighting and killing the insurgents and terrorists is only one step, albeit a vital one. You must also look for the root cause of the unrest and try to remedy it without alienating the rest of the world's Muslim population. Otherwise, we are just playing a gigantic game of whack a mole, and with 1.5 billion moles who only have to get lucky once to threaten our society, the odds are long.

We need to figure out why people are willing to blow themselves up in order to further their cause, and change the factors. Then we will have stopped the progress of the disease, and can move on to eliminating the remaining tumors.

In keeping with the topic of the thread, weakness by the US and our allies will only serve to further embolden our enemies, and cause them to make further demands.

While our great moats have largely prevented the lands of the US from being directly threatened or invaded until now, the combination of suicidal terrorists, air travel, and WMD make us just as vulnerable to their attacks as those who live next door. I think that the next attack is already in motion, and is just a matter of time. My hope is that the next one motivates us, as a nation to do what is required without destroying our country, and does not find our leaders lacking in character or resolve.

The potential cost of failure is the end of Western society and a regression to the Middle Ages.

Just my .02, YMMV.

TR