Marymac and Harpgirl, you bring up a crucial point. Women are not being consulted. They need to be. (Susan Sontag had something important to say.) Belicose white men are aggravating the problem by their indiscrimiate pronouncements. I'm sick of the sports and Western movie metaphors.

Here's the problem. How much of the Muslim community wants to differentiate themselves from the Taliban, Hezbollah, Hamas etc? That's a tight rope.

I reiterate that there is a difference between a police action and a purely military response. The first apprehends and punishes the guilty. The latter (war) punishes the innocent along with the guilty.

An international police force is necessary to protect lives throughout the world from the fanatics who favor death. (Paradise). We, as well as other countries, must now assume the role of policemen (and women) for the benefit of the world.

There ARE people we can talk to. These are the potential followers of the Taliban, Hezbollah,etc. cults. We need to do alot of talking to the wider true Muslim community, not the perverts. Potential recruits are poor people that have been disenfranchised by neglect for their well-being by many of the world's well-heeled countries. This is true in Saudi Arabia (through the misguided Gulf War in it's quest for oil) as well as arming the Taliban to fight the Soviets. Arming the Northern Alliance will be our next mistake. We need to talk a lot to the poor people of Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Afghanistan, etc. etc. and show them that our way of life is obtainable for them. We have seen the future and it works. It's called American democracy.

Bin Laden is a world criminal. There are many more. A United Nations Police Force would be one important solution. This requires a lot of talking.

The people who yell the loudest about the glory of war have probably never been in battle. It takes more than anger to survive it.

Frank