Larry,

Would that you were right, but a hard look at history tells me you have about as much chance of reasoning with a mad dog. Zealots like bin Laden (plug in whatever name you want from history of his ilk) think in a circle and logic is linear. They can't get from point A to point B, because B lies outside th circle and any attempt to straighten the circle to get there is another "trick" of the opposition. Same shit as trying to reason with a born-again Christian. It's a waste of breath.

That said, and with pretty good evidence that bin Laden, the Taliban and al-Qaida are pretty committed to killing us, I think the choice is clear. You go in, kill as surgically as possible to get as few non-combattants as you can, and wipe out the idiocy.

APPEASEMENT DOESN'T WORK.

david