Passive

http://www.itsyourtimes.com/?q=node/2013
"Today we have done what we had to do. If necessary, we shall do it again. It gives me no pleasure to say that, and I wish it were otherwise...When our citizens are abused or attacked anywhere in the world on the direct orders of a hostile regime, we will respond so long as I'm in this Oval Office...Despite our repeated warnings, Qadhafi continued his reckless policy of intimidation, his relentless pursuit of terror. He counted on America to be passive. He counted wrong."
-Ronald Reagan's Address to the Nation on the United States Air Strike Against Libya

It seems that things have changed since the 1980's. If I remember correctly, the USA didn't take guff from Islamic terrorists. As I remember it, Libya was hijacking planes all around the world, especially western planes. So, Reagan had Qadhafi's house bombed. I think that the biggest impediment was France not allowing the American bombers to fly over France during the roundtrip flight between Britain and Libya. But, hey, that's France (Nous sommes les mauviettes du monde). That prettymuch shut down Qadhafi.
Anyway, is the US using that same philosophy against the terrorists in Iraq? It seems that the military has gone a bit soft in its response to terrorists. But, I can't be sure. I do know, however, that the media has gone soft - so soft to the point that it is basically supporting the terrorists in Iraq. Every day, there's a news story about murder and mayehm in Iraq, the 'quagmire' that it is, and how everything that's going wrong is our fault. Let's look at some facts. There's about 150k Americans in Iraq. I believe that Iraq is about the same size as CA, with about 1/3 - 1/2 the population. If we all decided to blow up each other while buying groceries, it would be hard for a military force to stop that here. I think that we don't have anywhere near enough soldiers deployed. I hate to see guys go (I can think of 3 kids from the youth group that were/are/will be there), but we can't stop now. If the US packed up and went home, the terrorists would claim victory, and rightfully so. Then, what would happen in Iraq? Would it go back to an oppressive Islamic state? As a side note, it would be interesting to know how many people were killed daily while Hussien was in power. I wonder how those numbers compare to the last few years.
I'm not totally sure what my point here is, but maybe it's this...Sift through the b.s. that the media gives us as fast as it can and look for the facts.
Perhaps one of my many solutions to illegal immigration could work here. Since a lot of the terrorists seem to come from Syria & Iran, there should be a serious border patrol in Iraq. Plainly mark the border as a 'no trespassing' area, saying that trespassers will be shot on sight. Then, anytime someone's discovered at the border, well, you get the idea...
Having said all of that, I would like to see a peaceful solution as soon as possible. But, as long as Islam as a whole tolerates the plethora of militants, peace will not be possible.