Wouter,
<br> You make the point that the support of the terrorists are the downtrodden and hungry people. If you think simply providing food and resources will remove their support for the terrorists, you're making as much of an oversimplification as those who want to turn the Middle East into a glass factory.
<br> I'd like to point out what happened in the UN relief efforts in Sudan. Bin Laden wasn't too happy with the food being delivered and killed some 19 Americans then too. I don't think giving them food made much difference. I respect your point and agree that the response to this latest criminal act is to both starve the power base and to cut off the head of the current threat. This evil is a Hydra and demands a multifaceted counter. Bin Laden and his co-conspirators must be brought to justice without making him a martyr and furthering the cycle.
<br> Tom Clancy introduced an interesting idea- an Islamic trial with televised Islamic justice (execution by sword) being carried out. (Okay, fiction and reality are not the same, but did any of us expect such terrorism could be anything other than fiction?) My question is if such a trial can be done in an unbiased fashion and can it be done to satisfy the demands of both justice and silencing the opinion of his support base? Saudi Arabia and Egypt are out if only due to Bin Laden's politics. What if Yasser Arafat could be encouraged to convene a council of clerics from each of the Arab nations that would be able to serve justice fairly? The real challenge would then be to develop adequate evidence suitable for an Islamic court... I don't know if that's a possibility since I know little of the legal structure... <br><br>