[mburbank]

I don't think even the most liberal among us think Al Quaeda and it' offshoots should be allowed to set of bombs, against civillians or soldiers. It's criminal activity of the worst, most immoral sort and I strongly agree they should be rooted out and made to face justice.

I would, however, beware the perfecly natural tendency to desire schoolyard bully ass whipping. It's a distraction, I can't see it improving our deffensive situation as people who are already willing to die for their cause aren't that scared of 'ass whipping', it generally leads to indiscreet actions often against the wrong people and it plays into terrorist hands by clouding our own national judgement and feeding international anger.

I would instead suggest we get serious. We know a lot of things. We know ourt soldiers in Iraq need better body armor and shielding for their vehicles. Lets get those supplies to them now. We know Saudi Arabia is a major source of funding for extremist groups but we're deeply in bed with them and many members of the roayl family are close friends of the extended Bush clan. It's time to lean on them. We know Pakistan was the worlds largest proliferator of nuclear know how and net working, but we feel we need them. It doesn't seem to me like they're doing much of a job in any case and if the world sees us turning a blind eye to tht mess, what message does it send about our seriousness? We know our police and firefighters don't have the money or the man power to effectively respond to threats. We know our nuclear power plants are dangerous, easy tartgets but we let them police themselves becuase they're big business and we don't irritate big business.

Solving any of these problems does not require ass whipping or schoolyard bullying, and one of the cheif aims of a very small opponent is to make their larger enemey nuts so they won't think straight. In addition, our currrent dministrationwants you to think this way and get Dennis Millerafied, where you get so righteously angry you figure W and company should do anything they want without question.

Terrorism is horrifying, inhuman, barbaric, unconsionable and still kills way way way way fewer people then die in automobile accidents every year. I'm not belittling it. I'm saying it calls for focus, intelligence, coordination and clarity more often than it calls for slogans, bombs, armies, and nationalism.