An excellent point was made on West Wing last week - that terrorism is never effective - but that fact doesn't STOP terrorism. In fact, the end result of terrorism usually has a result exactly the opposite of its intention. It strengthens the opposition. In this case it has drawn the US closer to people with whom it has had major differences - the terrorist's fellow Muslims in other countries that have been previously unfriendly to the US. Perhaps it's a misnomer to call terrorists Muslims, just as it's a misnomer to call people who plant bombs & commit murder in this country or Ireland 'Christians'. Terrorist activity is antithetical to the tenets of the religions they claim to espouse.