[BBKing]

I thought we *had* negotiated with Sinn Fein (and Ben Gurion, and Mandela, and Kenyatta...)?

Admittedly I can't see Bin Laden dropping in for tea at the Palace. The best we can hope for there is to stop the flow of recruits to him, by going after the really dangerous people who teach them this rubbish about Jihad, demonstrating that the West isn't a threat to Islam (this can be achieved by treating Israel and Palestine properly for a start). I have to say that Muslim leaders in the UK and elsewhere need to stand up and be counted, and the media has to give moderate (i.e most) Islam a voice and respect, and understanding.

Heard on the radio on the way in - 'al-Qaeda have succeeded in splitting the West by force' - of course Bush has split the West in a far deeper way by using nuts like Rumsfeld to do the job of diplomats. Saying your allies will be 'called to account' for disagreeing with you, and all that.

Incidentally, I came up with the solution to Northern Ireland the other day - the Americans should have invaded. If we'd offered them good terms to build a big military base up there then there would have been good money flowing in, less unemployment, and the nationalists couldn't have attacked them (as the US was/is a big supporter) and the US would have had to take an interest long before Clinton did. Joint British/US patrols anyone? OK, I may have been on crack when I came up with that one, but it can hardly have been worse tha nwhat really happened in the 70s.