The Europeans have had very good results with using police to control terrorist activities in their own countries, which are much closer to the action than ours.

I'm assuming you aren't counting Spain.

Bookmark that one. I expect to haul it up again someday.

How many terrorist attacks have there been in America? But who is it that is constantly complaining about the tightening of our domestic security arrangements?

At the bottom of your scenario is the idea that somehow, if we'd just stop being so nasty around the world, the bad people would leave us alone. That somehow we could have occupied and overthrown the regime in Afghanistan without pissing off radical Islamists around the world. That Iraq would be quiet and stable forever if we'd just left it alone. That there would have been no al Qaeda if we'd just stayed out of the Gulf when Iraq moved on Kuwait. That if America just hunkered down and pretended to be Switzerland, that the world would be a paradise.

What's sad and a little amusing is that I've seen this whole process almost word-for-word during the Cold War. I lost count of the people who told me thirty years ago that if only America wasn't so militaristic and aggressive, that the Soviet Union would settle back to a quiet, non-expansionist nation and everyone would raise roses.

"Stability" covers a wide range of situations. Graveyards are stable. Totalitarian dictatorships are stable. The U.S.S.R. used to be a lot more stable. If Nazi Germany had been left alone, it would probably be a stable society today. Not very diverse, but stable.

As for cooperation, who are we to cooperate with that is not on our side already? Is the support of France the answer to all our ills? I think Russia is coming around on its own. Sometimes it takes a hell of a wakeup call.

"Cooperation" is one of those liberal "worship words" that gets you points just for saying it. Nothing else seems to be necessary.