Hi Jay,

I don't see "hunting them down and killing them" as either feasible
or
effective. For every one you kill, there are 10,000 more
waiting to take his place with greater fervor and comittment.

Well, Lee, I understand that the POTENTIAL for terrorism will always
be with
us. That is a sad fact of life.

Yes.

However, I will argue that the reality of terrorism can be crushed to
a
large degree.

It can and should be be fought, whether it can be crushed by force
alone I dispute that.

Madrid is a wonderful case in point -- did you see the
demonstrations today? Millions of Spaniards have now come to hate
and
despise the terrorists worse than ever before

Yes.

-- a reaction that is
diametrically opposed to what the terrorists sought.

No, not at all. They know and even relish the fact, that they are hated
for what they do.

When it becomes obvious that their barbaric tactics have accomplished
precisely nothing

What makes you think that this would be their asessment of
accomplishment? Do you really think they expected people to come over
and bow to Islam as a result of terrorist attacks? Face it, both 9/11
and Madrid were a tremendous success to them. They destroyed what they
hate and caused tremendous grieve to people they consider to have done
them great harm. And as added bonus they are convinced that they will
be rewarded for what they did in the afterlife. What else could they
wish for?

-- AND they are picked off, one by one, and are jailed or
dead -- then (and only then) will terrorism cease to be a significant
threat.

No, not at all. These - should I even call them human beings - have
reached a state of hatred that makes them practically imune against any
reasoning. It makes no difference whatsoever to them, if they are
"picked off one by one" or jailed or dead, as long as in their death
they can wreck havoc and take many more infidels with them.

To think otherwise plays completely into the terrorist's hands.

It is very important to understand the way these sick minds are
working, and how the reasoning you put forward just doesn't occur to
them. Otherwise you arrive at false conclusions about effectiveness of
any considered countermeasures.

Yes, we all of the free societies must stand together to fight this
threat. But to believe that the threat of terrorism can be overcome by
increasing security and military action more and more will lead to the
destruction of precisely what we want to defend, the free society. Some
people have said that in a way Al Quaida has already won in the sad
sense, that much of the freedom that the US stood for (and freedom is
what these people hate most) in the past has vanished already. From
what I read on this newsgroup about TFRs and other ever increasing
restrictions on GA anyway.

regards,
Friedrich

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