"Fighting terrorism the way the US does will cause more terrorism. It's like Tantalus' punishment."
I assume the "way" you are referring to has with the US invading both Aghanistan and Iraq- instead of some form of covert/proxy war, the US states it's intentions of overthrowing these regimes. The thing similar about both countries is they refused to cooperate with the US- if either or both had altered their foreign policy, the US would not have lead an effort to change the regimes- despite their horrible performance with their "domestic policies". Talk is cheap. The US had just had terrorists fly airliners into buildings. US domestic politics and global politics demanded the US take strong action to thwart possible further acts of strategic terror. If both Aghanistan and Iraq had changed their policy, the US would have moved on to other "targets"- which doesn't neccessarily mean the US would have chosen to send in the marines to some other country. And "Moving on" doesn't mean ignoring Aghanistan and Iraq- both were problems regardless of the will of their rulers- the US would have worked with these regimes to help them overcome their problems [as relates to terrorism]. Pakistan is an example of how the US works with these regimes. We didn't have a good relation with Pakistan, prior to 911, but it's dicatorial leader, made a decision of cooperating with efforts to fight international terror. Therefore though we would "like" Pakistan to become a democratic country, we are more focused in working with Pakistan to fight terrorism.
"Moving on" means looking for other "pockets of resistance"- it's like walking into a town to see if you are greeted or shot at- it's a tactic of finding the enemy. We were and are still are looking for the "bad guys".
The "bad guy" in this context is those entities who are or will support terrorism. A.N.S.W.E.R btw, fits this definition. People who buy off terrorists fit this definition. People who generally profit by dealing with terror groups fit this definition. We are hunting for terrorist and those that profit by association with these thugs.
Terrorist are criminals. You can't end crime, but you can put a big dent in it- you can thwart it, you can make it harder for them to "make a living". Terrorist are criminals and you will find terrorist involved with other criminal activity. Organized crime is also a bad thing and could be said to have a far worse affect upon the world than terrorism, but even though organized crime probably profit from working with terrorists, this connection will end up burning them- probably biggest side affect of War on Terror will be the worldwide disruption of organized crime.