And we are ill equipped to deal with it.

Wars are large scale acts of aggression carried out by nation states against other nation states. In war, you know who your attackers are, where they live, and what they want. The attackers generally attack with discrimination to achieve strategic advantage. Because the boundaries of the conflict are along national borders, wars are best fought by governments.

Crimes are acts by individuals against other individuals. They are seldom coordinated, they are localized, and damage is limited to a few individuals or perhaps a corporation. The attackers generally attack with discrimination to achieve personal gain. All participants in crimes typically share a locality of influence making them amenable to efforts of local authorities.

Terror is neither. It is large scale acts of agression carried out against individuals indiscriminately, by organizations that are dispersed and do not recognize geographic or national boundaries. As the attackers are not aligned with any particular geography or physical infrastructure, they are not well suited to techniqies commonly employed either in war, or in law enforcement.

The bottom line is we need to change the game plan and find out who and why, then begin fighting them with the same kinds of weapons they use to build support. This is propaganda, long standing resentments, victim-hood, religion and other superstitions. The only sure way to end terrorism is through peace, love, and understanding of the terrorist's personal world view.

Sadly, a bunch of jack-booted, no-compromise, black and white neocons will never succeed at such an enterprise. Instead, they will continue their death grip on ineffective but self-righteous feel-good policies (Cuban embargo anyone?) right into the ground dragging us all down with them.