...fewer people in those countries and their neighbors would think we were trying to kill them all.

Less revenge that way, fewer blood feud candidates, therefore fewer recruits for terrorists to draw on.

If the impression is that the US/the West is intent on killing those not in their club, the choice is wait to be killed or take some of those in the US/the West out in retribution. Add to that that many of the people in the terrorist recruitment pool are young and unemployed, and therefore have nothing to lose -- no home, no job, no career, no dignity -- and we have a can of gasoline waiting for a match.

You want people to be peaceful? Give them peace. You want people to value security? Make them secure. You want people to work for the future? Give them one.

We will always have criminals among us. That's what terrorists are: criminals. Do we really have to treat everyone in their neighborhood as if the criminals were the norm?

We are in a place where we don't belong. But we don't have the gumption to put enough into the place to do the job right, to fix the things that we neglected for years (by supporting our pal Saddam) and then well and truly broke. I keep reading and hearing about the resources and people needed to do this or that that just are not there. Haven't we got the money? Let's repeal the tax cuts. We owe it to the Iraqis.