Stanley: "War? Who are we at war with?"
Gabriel: "Anyone who impinges on America's freedom. Terrorist states, Stanley. Someone must bring their war to them. They bomb a church, we bomb 10. They hijack a plane, we take out an airport. They execute American tourist, we tactically nuke an entire city. Our job is to make terrorism so horrific that is becomes unthinkable to attack Americans."
This movie came out before 9/11, so naturally, being from Hollywood, John Travolta's character "Gabriel" (head of a covert-ops team called "Black Cell" charged with defending American liberty at all costs) was portrayed as a bad guy. I thought he kicked ass.
"Our job is to make terrorism so horrific that is becomes unthinkable to attack Americans."
When I went to Asia in '66 - that's the way it was. When I left in '76 kids were bumping shoulders with me as we passed on the streets in Singapore and Djakarta.