are naive enough to think that if we let them alone, they will let us alone.

We let them alone for decades. This knuckleheaded policy didn't work in the past. Why should it suddenly start working now?

Source: http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0884893.html

Here are some of the fun things that Al Qaeda before the War on Terrorism.

1980s
* 1980 April 30 Iranian Embassy siege Iraqi agents take over the Iranian Embassy in London, gaining hostages. After a number of days, one hostage was killed by the Iraqis, and the Special Air Service assaulted the building to rescue the remaining hostages. One hostage died during the assault.
* 1980 August 2 Neo-Fascist bomb kills more than 80 people and injures 291 people at the Bologna Central Station
* 1981 October 6 Assassination of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat by Islamic Jihad.

1982-1983
* 1982 July 20 Two bombs in Hyde Park and Regent's Park, London by the IRA kill 8 members of the Household Cavalry and the Royal Green Jackets. Seven horses are also killed.
* 1982 August 7 Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia set off bomb in Ankara airport, killing 9 people and wounding 70.
* 1982 September 14 Assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Bashir Gemayel and twenty-five others in an car explosion at the Kataeb headquarters.
* 1982 September 17 Sabra and Shatila Massacre: the murder of hundreds of Palestinian civilians at refugee camps by Israeli-backed Christian Phalangist militiamen.
* 1982 October 14 Direct Action bombs a Litton Industries factory.
* 1983 April 18 U.S. Embassy Bombing in Beirut, Lebanon kills 63.
* 1983 July 15 Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia bombed a Turkish airline counter in the Orly Airport, killing eight people and wounding over 50.
* 1983 September 23 Gulf Air Flight 771 is bombed, killing all 117 people on board.
* 1983 October 9 Rangoon bombing by North Koreans targets South Korean President Chun Doo Hwan, killing 21 persons and injuring 48.
* 1983 October 23 Marine Barracks Bombing in Beirut kills 241 U.S. Marines. 58 French troops from the multinational force are also killed in a separate attack.
* 1983 December 17 Harrods bomb by the IRA. Six are killed (including three police officers) and 90 wounded during Christmas shopping at the West London department store.

1984-1985
* 1984 October 31 Two Sikh bodyguards assassinate Prime Minister of India Indira Gandhi.
* 1984 IRA bomb in the Grand Hotel Brighton 5 are killed in an attempt to kill members of the British cabinet.
* 1985 TWA Flight 847 hijacking.
* 1985 IRA mortar attack kills nine Police officers in Newry.
* 1985 June 22 Air India Flight 182 is blown up by a bomb put onboard the flight from Canada by Sikh nationalists. All 329 people on board are killed. The single most deadly terrorist attack prior to September 11, 2001.
* 1985 October 7 - October 10 Achille Lauro cruise ship hijacking by Palestinian Liberation Front, during which passenger Leon Klinghoffer is shot dead.
* 1985 EgyptAir Flight 648 hijacked by Abu Nidal group, flown to Malta, where Egyptian commandos storm plane; 60 are killed by gunfire and explosions.
* 1985 Rome and Vienna Airport Attacks.
* 1985 Investigators associated with the WHO reported that U.S.-funded Contras repeatedly destroyed health-care facilities and murdered health-care workers in Nicaraqua.

1986-1987
* 1986 New Year's Eve fire at the Dupont Plaza Hotel in San Juan, Puerto Rico, claimed 97 lives, mainly in the casino area. Fire set by 3 hotel workers, trying to make tourists stay away from Puerto Rico as a protest to their working wages.
* 1986 TWA Flight 840 bombed on approach to Athens airport; 4 Americans, including an infant, are killed.
* 1986 June 14 ANC bombs Why Not Restaurant and Magoo's Bar in Durban, South Africa, 3 people killed, 73 wounded.
* 1986 July 15 ETA Basque militant group bombs a Guardia Civil police truck, kills 12.
* 1986 April 6 the La Belle discotheque in Berlin, a known hangout for U.S. soldiers, was bombed, killing 3 and injuring 230 people, for which Libya is held responsible. In retaliation, the US bombs Libya in Operation El Dorado Canyon and tries to kill dictator Qaddafi.
* 1986 Pan Am Flight 73, an American civilian airliner, is hijacked; 22 people die when plane is stormed in Karachi, Pakistan.
* 1987 Enniskillen massacre. Remembrance Day parade in Enniskillen, County Fermanagh is bombed by the IRA and 11 are killed and 63 injured.
* 1987 June 19th, ETA Basque militant group bomb in Hipercor Mall's parking in Barcelona, kills 21, 45 injured.
* 1987 KAL Flight 858 bombed by North Korea.
* 1987 December 11 ETA Basque militant group bomb a Guardia Civil police bedrooms in Zaragoza, kills 11, 40 injured.

1988-1989
* 1988 Pan Am Flight 103 bombing (Lockerbie). The worst act of terrorism against the United States prior to September 11, 2001.
* 1989 Deal barracks bombing: Ten Royal Marines bandsmen are killed and 22 injured when base in Deal, Kent is bombed by the IRA.
* 1989 Two bombs explode in Mecca, killing one pilgrim and wounding 16 others.
* 1989 September 19 UTA Flight UT-772 kills 171 people.
* 1989 Avianca Flight 203 bombed over Colombia.

1990s
1990-1992
* 1990 A series of car bombings directed by the IRA in Northern Ireland leave 7 people dead and 37 wounded.
* 1991 Two IRA members are killed by their own bomb in St Albans.
* 1991 May 29 ETA Basque terrorist group bombs the Guardia Civil police barracks in Vic (Barcelona), kill 10.
* 1992 March 17 Israeli Embassy bombing by "Islamic Jihad" in Buenos Aires, Argentina; 29 killed, 242 injured.
* 1992 Eight Protestant builders killed by an IRA bomb on their way to work at an Army base near Omagh.

1993
* 1993 February 26 World Trade Center bombing kills 6 and injures over 1000 people.
* 1993 Failed New York City landmark bomb plot.
* 1993 June 21 ETA Basque terrorist group bombs a military truck in Madrid, kills 7, 36 injured.
* 1993 July 5 the IRA detonate a 1500lb car bomb (the largest used in Northern Ireland) in the centre of Newtownards in Northern Ireland, no one is killed but massive property damage is caused to the town centre.
* 1993 Mir Aimal Kansi, a Pakistani, fires an AK-47 assault rifle into cars waiting at a stoplight in front of the Central Intelligence Agency headquarters. Two died.
* 1993 Mumbai car bombings in India
* 1993 IRA bomb in Warrington kills two children (Warrington Bomb Attacks)
* 1993 IRA detonate a huge truck bomb in the City of London at Bishopsgate, killing two and causing approximately £350m of damage.
* 1993 October 23 A bomb at a fish and chip shop on the Protestant Shankill Road, Belfast kills 10 people, including two children.
* 1993 October 30 Seven people killed in a Loyalist UFF gun attack in a bar in Greysteel, Co Derry.

1994
* 1994 February 25 Baruch Goldstein kills 29 Palestinian civilians in an attack in the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron.
* 1994 June 18 Six Catholic men shot dead by Loyalists in a pub in Loughinisland, Co Derry.
* 1994 July 18 Bombing of Jewish Center in Buenos Aires, Argentina kills 86 and wounds 300. Attributed by the judge who tried the case, Juan José Galeano, to Hezbollah acting on behalf of Iran.
* 1994 July 19 Alas Chiricanas bombing kills 21 people. Generally attributed to Hezbollah.
* 1994 July 26 Israeli Embassy Attack in London and a Jewish charity are car-bombed, wounding 20. Attributed by Britain, Argentina, and Israel to Hezbollah.
* 1994 December 11 A small bomb explodes on board Philippine Airlines Flight 434, killing a Japanese businessman. Authorities found out that Ramzi Yousef planted the bomb to test it for his planned terrorist attack.
* 1994 December 24 Air France Flight 8969 is hijacked by GIA members who planned to crash the plane on Paris but didn't succeed.

1995
* 1995 Operation Bojinka is discovered on a laptop computer in a Manila, Philippines apartment by authorities after an apartment fire occurred in the apartment.
* 1995 March 20 Sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway by AUM Shinrikyo cultists
* 1995 April 19 ETA Basque militant group tries to kill José María Aznar (then leader of the Popular Party, later a Spanish Prime Minister) bombing his car, kills a woman.
* 1995 April 19 Oklahoma City bombing killing 168 people, 19 of which were children.
* 1995 Islamist terror bombings in France by a GIA unit (Khaled Kelkal being one of the operational leaders) kill seven and injure more than 100.
* 1995 Bombing of military compound in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
* 1995 December 11 ETA Basque militant group bombs a militar truck in Madrid, kills 6 civilian public servants.

1996
* 1996 January In Kizlyar, 350 Chechen militants hold 3000 hostages in a hospital. The attempt to free them kills 65 civilians and soldiers.
* 1996 January Provisional Irish Republican Army plant a bomb that police defuse at the Canary Wharf towers in London.
* 1996 January 31 Central Bank Bombing in Sri Lanka kills 90 and wounds 1,400.
* 1996 February 10 IRA bombs the South Quay DLR station killing two people.
* 1996 June 15 Manchester bombing by IRA.
* 1996 June 25 Khobar Towers bombing.
* 1996 July 27 Centennial Olympic Park bombing, killing one and wounding 111.
* 1996 A series of four suicide bombings in Israel leave 60 dead and 284 wounded within 10 days.

1997
* 1997 Islamic gunmen attack tourists in Luxor, Egypt, killing 71 people, most of them European and Japanese vacationers.
* 1997 An armed man opens fire on tourists at an observation deck atop the Empire State Building in New York City, killing a Danish national and wounding visitors from the United States, Argentina, Switzerland and France before turning the gun on himself. A handwritten note carried by the gunman claims this was a punishment attack against the "enemies of Palestine".
* 1997 December 22. Acteal massacre - 46 killed while praying in Acteal, Chiapas, Mexico. A paramilitary group associated with ex-president Salinas is held responsible.

1998
* 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and Nairobi, Kenya, killing 225 people and injuring more than 4,000.
* 1998 Omagh bombing by the so-called "Real IRA" kills 29.

1999
* 1999 Gunmen open fire on Shi'a Muslims worshipping in an Islamabad mosque killing 16 people injuring 25.
* 1999 David Copeland nail bomb attacks against ethnic minorities and gays in London kill 3 people and injure over 160.
* 1999 Ahmed Ressam is arrested on the United States-Canada border in Port Angeles, Washington; he confessed to planning to bomb the Los Angeles International Airport as part of the 2000 millennium attack plots
* 1999 Jordanian authorities foil a plot to bomb US and Israeli tourists in Jordan and pick up 28 suspects as part of the 2000 millennium attack plots
* 1999 Indian Airlines Flight 814, which just took off from Kathmandu, Nepal for Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi, India is hijacked, one passenger is killed and some hostages are released. After negotiations between the Taliban and the Indian government, the last of the remaining hostages on board Flight 814 are released
* 1999 August 31 - September 22 Russian Apartment Bombings kills about 300 people, leading Russia into Second Chechen War.

2000s
2000
* 2000 Terrorism against Israel in 2000.
* 2000 The last of the 2000 millennium attack plots fails, as the boat meant to bomb USS The Sullivans sinks.
* 2000 German police foil Strasbourg cathedral bombing plot.
* 2000 June 8 Stephen Saunders, a British Defense Attaché, was assassinated by Revolutionary Organization 17 November
* 2000 October 12 USS Cole bombing kills 17 US sailors.

2001
* 2001 Terrorism against Israel in 2001.
* 2001 February 5 A bomb blast in Moscow's Byelorusskaya subway station injures 15 people.
* 2001 August 9 A suicide bomber in Jerusalem, Israel kills 7 and wounds 130 in the Sbarro restaurant suicide bombing; Hamas and Islamic Jihad claim responsibility.