I can see that doing nothing is not an option.
I can even see that retaliation/revenge is required.
But it must be against the guilty, and it should be in conjunction with actions which will make the underlying problem (ME hatred of the USA) go away.
There was a fascinating piece in one of the papers over the weekend arguing that the real guilty parties here are the Saudi state and its state religion of Wahabbism (spelling Jacko???) which is very different to Islam, although it is becoming increasingly dominant and powerful.
ROC,
I do wish you well, and respect for the spelling. Mujahaddin may be spelt however you like, since it's a transliteration from Arabic. I guess it should be include the word Jihad, though none of my client's style sheets use spellings that do. With regard to "****ting in their pants" also no problem, though here in England we might omit the word 'in' as to '**** one's pants' is a common phrase, and to '**** in one's pants' is merely more long-winded.
Another article over the weekend (by an ex-SAS man who trained the Muj) leads me to believe that you may be under-rating the calibre of your enemy. I hope not, though, and want to see a massive disparity in each side's casualties. I may be a bit liberal for your tastes, but I know which side I prefer.
I was more worried by your throwaway remark about what free Bostonians do with their money. What they did with it was support terrorists who made indiscriminate and cowardly attacks on innocent civilians, and you condemn that, right?
DDI, launching cruise missiles is entirely legitimate, and no serving military man should ever refuse a legitimate order. There's vigilamte lurking in all of us, which is why we need civilisation and laws. I don't pretend to need those things any less than anyone else. But one expects more from a state than a gutter journo. I use the term redneck, BTW, to describe those who scream for pure revenge 'against the A-rabs' and not for those who want justice or retaliation purely against the guilty.
I agree with much of what you say, but it puzzles me that you should be so resistant to the idea of ALSO solving the underlying problems, which make the USA and ourselves such a tempting target for extreme Islamic terrorist groups. Do you feel that they will somehow have won if we cede an inch of moral ground?