There is some questionable wisdom buried in your comments.

We elected to declare war on terrorism, cobbled together a somewhat shakey coalition and set about our task. For this we get criticized and called names and all of Islam may wind up turning against us.

The terrorist destroyed what they percieved to be two great symbols of western wealth and power. Suppose we had just bombed the two holy mosques in Saudi Arabia and called it square with the warning that we would respond in kind in a similar way to any future attacks. Why Saudi Arabia? OBL is a Saudi and so were most of the terrorists.

No long bombing campaign, no daily civilian casualties, bam, it's done, let's talk now. Who would have the Arab blamed? Us or OBL and what would the muslim world's reaction have been? After all they are limited in how they could react.

I know that many will say that the result would be worldwide condemnation and you may be right but I have always found that negotiating with Arabs is unpredictable and so are their reactions.

Sometimes possible solutions have too much risk associated to be worthwhile.