Please explain how to effect a "forceful and direct" response to terrorism. Has anybody figured out how to do it? Israel has been trying for years and gotten nowhere. The more people we kill the more powerful will be anti-US terrorist groups. We are not dealing the Nazis or commy USSR and we need to adjust how we are going to deal with these events. Declaring war against a dozen arab nations is not going to have any positive outcome. It will not save US lives. It will not save foreign lives. The long term consequences would be terrible for our country and the world as a whole. The only truly effective military response would be a nuclear strike(s) and the cost of such action is probably more than we are willing bear.