What I get reminded of in all this is the way the First World War started - a terrorist atrocity by an organisation associated with another country, demands on that country which weren't accepted adequately enough, or quickly enough, and the system of alliances lumbered into action, and the war started.

The one thing in all this that we can be thankful for is that it didn't happen during the Cold War, or I think we'd probably all be dead by now.

And I hope so much that the people making the decisions are making some effort to get inside the mind of the kind of fanaticism they are up against. Yes it seems pretty likely that Osima Bin Laden is behind all this - but evidence can be faked, and it would have been easy enough to book places on planes using names from Saudi Arabia and Yemen and so forth.

But whether he is in fact the mastermind behind this, or merely an admiring spectator, it seems pretty clear that what he would most wish is conflict between the Islamic World and the rest. If his own death will achieve that, I think it is pretty clear that he would welcome it. It wouldn't be a punishment but a reward.