You've got about 1500 million muslims vs. 300 million Americans. About 5 to 1.
We should be fighting terrorism with terrorism, not on the ground in a police-action going house-to-house in a nation building effort. The only way they'll respect us is for us to become the biggest "terrorist" on the block.
When your enemy respects only power, you shove it down their throat. Call it the "three for one" plan, in honor of our troops currently being held hostage. You'll not only get their respect, but attention, too.
If we piss them off enough, they might even form an army and put on uniforms- making it easier for us to acquire targets.
The only question I have is: How long before they become the world's greatest oil exporters while exploiting other technological advantages that may accrue from a defeat, followed by modern reconstruction (see Japan).
Antiquated thinking that won't work with this bunch. By becoming the terrible enemy that they preach about, we would just confirm the truth of their imams' rants. We'd be better off buying iPods preloaded with the top 100 songs for every kid in the Muslim world and sending Victoria's Secret catalogs to all of their women. A huge ramping up of Cultural Imperialism is way overdue.