If we make an immediate strike against Afghanistan to get bin Laden, in the best case senario, a bunch of Rangers go in and kill bin Laden and his cohorts with minimal American casualties. Then the retalitory attacks by bin Laden supporters begin in ernest.

A proper war on terrorism will take the concerted effort by US and its European, Middle Eastern, and Asian allies against all the terrorist cells around the globe that would attack us after a first strike. This type of coordination take time. Rebuilding our intelligence network will take time. Unfortunately, the waffling of our NATO 'allies' makes this much harder.