I agree with that assessment. The marginal advantage to the present situation is that at least we would be dealing with enemies who more or less inhabit the same real-world that we do. They would tend moreso to weigh the cost/benefit ratio thoughtfully when developing their strategy toward us.
I would rather face a relatively sane ideological enemy than a religious extremist who has a book that says it's foretold that as outgunned as he is, God guarantees him victory over us -- and besides, there is No Future, so he might as well go down taking as many of us with him as he can.
I agree with you...not that our agreement offers a solution. I truly don't know exactly what steps we must take. In a way, I have to agree with Daniel Pipes and his "gloom" - that Americans don't want to think about terrorism, that they are going back to sleep. I guess all I can say is that we have to constantly work to wake people up and pray real hard that they do. I think you and I will both do what we feel we have to do to make that happen.