With 9/11 - it already has. The terrorists WANTED to kill 50,000 people. They wanted to destroy the pentagon completely and to cap off the Senate/House or white house. Lots of kids would have died.
AS much as I would like to think that this will be a defining moment for the Russians and that it will result in them helping us fight the worldwide war on terrorism, I fear it will soon be forgotten. They lost 300 people, we lost 3000. They had one school damaged, we lost two landmark buildings, suffered damage to the Pentagon and lost four airliners. Already we have over half the population that is willing and anxious to vote out of office the man who moved to bring this sort of thing to a halt. It's a waste of breath to advocate stiffer resistance to these animals. If 9/11 didn't convince us of the necessity to strike back as hard as possible nothing short of a mushroom cloud over a major US city or two will do the job.