Nowhere near as ridiculous as sitting back and doing nothing dianavan. How do you effectively proceed against those plotting attacks of the 911 type against you, if such people are treated as common criminals. Until such time as they have successfully carried out their attack, detection and prosecution would be extremely difficult especially if those doing the planning are doing so outside your jurisdiction, sentencing would be a farce and would only suceed in delaying the operation. Or do you advocate that you wait until after the attack.

In his State of The Union Address the President of the United States of America got it exactly right. Relentless pursuit of those responsible for the attacks of 11th September, 2001 combined with a foreign policy that will successfully deter regimes and rogue states from providing sanctuary, sponsorship, training facilities and material support to international terrorist groups.

When the first attempt was made on the World Trade Centre, the USA was not involved in Afghanistan, was not involved in Iraq. The terrorists and their recruiters were active long before the events of 2001 and 2003. The necessary actions in both countries may act as a magnet for those wishing to take up arms against the US, if so all well and good, because it runs counter to what those terrorists actually want to be doing. They are being sucked in to fight battles not of their own choosing. In Iraq the Sunni Arabs are finally turning against the foreign Jihadists, in Afghanistan the Taleban are having to drag men from refugee camps to make up numbers, the local tribes are turning against them on the Pakistani side of the border. They are losing men in south-east Afghanistan at a rate they cannot afford, all their "heavy weapons" teams are ex-Pakistani Army Pashtuns and they are taking the heaviest casualties.

The BBC has been predicting a massive Taleban Spring offensive in Helmand - Now April 14th and it hasn't materialised yet, two engagements over the last two days have cost the Taleban 70 dead and goodness knows how many injured.

For those who think that all should have been light and roses in Afghanistan and Iraq by now (five and four years respectively after intervention) just consider that the stabilisation force duly mandated by the UN for operations in Bosnia is just now in the process of winding down and leaving the country - Fifteen years after they first entered.

You still don't explain why the threat posed by such terrorist groups should be dismissed. Your man has it right, irrespective of who had been in the White House the cards would have fallen pretty much the same way.