I think we should consider strikes against any terrorist group to begin with. "Oh, you're not really with Bin Laden. Sorry." (Picture Belushi in Animal House saying sorry after smashing the hippie's guitar.)


We might then demand the production of terrorists that have been protected by governments.(even though I'm not big on the trial idea.) On very short notice. If the government did not hand them over, we should retaliate against the state upon which we made the demand. We can pick our spots, but should make it very bad for states who sponsor terrorist activities against us. A nuclear response could create more problems, but if we could swing it we should consider a full attack on any country harboring the terrorists who did this, with our goal the complete destruction of their government and infrastructure. I don't know if we could get our troops in position to do this, but say we could achieve military superiority akin to the advantage we had in Iraq. I would destroy the army and industrial capacity of the country and control whatever natural resources the country had instead of letting them off the hook like Iraq. If they had oil, we should take it all, forever. Then the other oil producing states would have to be careful, because we could bust their cartel if things went well.


I realize that this type of plan my be impossible militarily. But we should rule out options only because we can't do them, not because it would be mean. Or in the case of a nuclear attack, whether anyone can retaliate in kind against us. Terrorists do not think like we do, or even like despicable nations. So we must punish any nations who help these people to the fullest extent possible. But I know I will never know all the facts, because the juicy ones should be kept secret. So we may never know what is possible or why a given action is ill-advised or impossible.