"Emmanuel Gustin" wrote in message ...
Terrorism is very much a local phenomenon with branch offices in
nations that allow it


You are living in the past.

Terrorism is a local phenomenon only if all the funding, weapons,
training, personnel and other forms of support are "centralized
locally". A modern terrorist group cannot hope to survive if it's
structured like an octopus. That model is vulnerable and obsolete.


the credibility of the USA has now sunk so low


Compared to who...France and Germany? : )


that nobody is even going to bother to read them, so it would be
regarded almost universally as agression pure and simple


Dismantling or dispersing militant groups in the Middle East is
more important than targeting single individuals like Osama
Bin Laden and Saddam Hussein. During World War II, the Germans
and the British proved that chasing one guy all over the place
was a complete waste of time, money and lives.

The Nazis expended enormous resources making futile attempts to
take out just one man. For example, the Germans committed a huge
raiding force including a mountain division and a battalion of
800 SS paratroopers in a bid to get Tito at his headquarters. The
German parachute battalion was nearly wiped out as they suffered
600 casualties in the assault. Tito escaped. The Germans came away
empty-handed...again.

The British made a similar but smaller scale attempt to kill Rommel
at a misidentified headquarters in the Middle East. Another dismal
failure with heavy losses for the British Commandos.

In other words, it's not wise to focus too much effort on one person.
Amazing how quickly the egghead critics have forgotten it, particularly
German critics who would rather not discuss their own embarrassing
adventures at that game.