I don't know whether it was ETA, al Qaida, or someone else altogether. But the suggestion that we can end terrorist attacks like this by "addressing all the historic wrongs perpetrated in the Middle East," or by "showing Muslims that we don't want to destroy their historic culture" is ludicrous. There are billions of people in the world who feel they have been wronged, and I will admit a lot of them have a damn good reason to feel that way. Add in "historic wrongs," and you've pretty much described everyone on the planet.

We can't appease away the terrorist threat, any more than we were able to appease away the Nazi threat in the last century. We need to continue to promote peace and justice in the world, try to right the wrongs that we're able to right, and keep groping towards a more perfect world, while acknowledging that we don't have all the answers and our efforts will invariably fall short of perfection. But when the bastards start blowing up innocent people by the hundreds, platitudes and self-examination will only take you so far; you have to shoot back, and pray that the good guys win.