Since everyone's arguing with pudge, I thought I'd chip in my 2c on the war.
Given the magnitude of death on US soil, it's unrealistic to expect anything other than a military response. The US government is at least acknowledging the social cause of the problem, and working to remove that cause while also removing the current symptoms (brainwashed fuckheads with a copy of Flight Simulator and an AK-47). There's a much better chance of this ending well than any of the other wars the US has been involved in lately.
So nuke 'em 'till they glow, Dubya. Let's remove the social cause and the region's acceptance of the extremists. Get some social pressure on the crackheads and let's see if they can so easily find a home when governments know that there are serious consequences to abetting terrorists.
That's not to say that I don't have reservations, though. Is the humanitarian aid enough? Will the replacement government be any better socially or politically? Is the committment really there, or is it a PR exercise? For the time being, though, I'm giving the benefit of the doubt to the US.
I think this puts me on the same page as pudge, which scares me enormously :-)
--Nat
