My only comment is that what the British have with the IRA is, indeed, terrorism that should not be dignified with the term "war". The militant Arabs are not common criminals: they represent a consistent worldview with its own notion of right and wrong, and they view us as evil. If the British had a system of justice that put the IRA thugs behind bars for life and didn't negotiate with them, their problem would be soon over. Not so in our case. Ours is war, not a police action.