Yeah, no terrorism was happening in Israel, Chechen, Nepal, or anywhere in the world until we invaded Iraq.

The world may not be safer right now. But it will be.

You could argue that civilized nations were a lot less safe in 1943 than they were in 1933, if you simply go by the incidence of violence. But it's because of the battles that civilized nations engaged in that the world was safer in 1953 than it would have been if America and other nations had just stayed home.

In the meantime, some nations sit on the sidelines throwing insults and unwanted advice at those actually getting the job done. Fine. Nothing new about that.

One approach is to take the fight to the enemy. The other approach, similar to what France is doing with the kidnappers, is to negotiate and give in. The former will involve violence, and casualties. The latter just involves surrender. Hey, nobody hurt, right? Give them the headwear, and maybe they'll leave it at that.