Wolfgang...Thank you for that courteous and interesting reply.

I think we are both on the same wavelength regarding terrorism and how to combat it, but we do differ in how we see the present situation.

Although I am a severe critic of the direction of Western culture and the attitude of our government to other peoples and cultures, I do realise that we are basically dealing with madmen.
The problem is that these madmen are in a position to do dreadful damage to the ordinary people of Britain.
It is relalivly easy for them to sustain a terror campaign, and due to the fact that they "welcome death"there is very little that our security services can do to stop it.

I firmly believe that this is a war that we cannot win by aggression.
For once "might" is not at all sure to triumph,and we have no alternative but to start giving ground in our foreign policy.

Attempting to put pressure on the insurgents in Iraq has had disasterous results both here and in Iraq.

To compare a battle against terrorism with a conventional war ,is simplistic in the extreme, and the rhetoric of politicians who want to convince the people that they are in control of the situation, when in fact they are afraid to step back and re-examine their policy.

So in conclusion Wolfgang, I hope you understand that I am not an apologist for terror, but someone looking into an abiss, whos only concern is that this country does not descend into madness because of the folishness and inflexibility of our leaders ....Ake