[Azred]

Mostly sarcasm, yes, but also quite true.

from the article: Mr. Scheuer also lambasted US administrations for being soft on terrorism, missing chances to attack Osama Bin Laden, and being over-concerned about public opinion in Europe and the Muslim world.

I agree. Don't let's look at our report card on combatting terrorism over the last 30 years--we would definitely have an F. Even modern conveniences such as the Patriot Act and the Dept. of Homeland Security have done next to nothing to actually make this country any safer; one need only scan news articles for a one-month period to see how many security breaches occur at airports for proof of this.
Don't blame only Bush, though; blame all of Washington, D.C. Remember that Clinton missed a couple of chances to catch or stop bin Laden but did not. Bush the Elder took Noriega into custody but let Hussein go free. Reagan struck at Quaddafi, but never laid a finger on Arafat. Finally, Carter suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of Khomeni.

We are making--have continued to make--two key mistakes in dealing with the Middle East.
One: our continuing close ties with Israel. I challenge any average American to name one resource or service we receive from Israel; I, myself, cannot name one--because we don't! The reason we continue to have such a close alliance with Israel is because of the Holocaust. We felt such pity for what they suffered--as we should have because it was horrific--but this mentality continues today. Anyone who speaks out against Israel is labelled "anti-Semitic" (despite the fact that Jews are not Semites, but that is another story altogether....) or potentially Hitlerian. Bottom line, this alliance means we enter any discussion with any Middle Eastern country with a low reputation, and reputation is still the key deciding factor for personal discussions in that part of the world.
Two: our delusion that Saudi Arabia is our friend. Washington, get a clue: they tolerate us because they have to, not because they want to! Hello! Does it escape our attention that Saudi Arabia continues to be one of the worst human rights violators in the world? The Royal Family may do what they please, when they please, how they please, to whomever they please, and no one can speak out against them; at least, not if they don't want to spend the rest of their life in prison. It's a kingdom; you know, that thing against which both America and the French revolted.

I'm still working on the last topic, the one about "worrying over public opinion". I know how to deal with--and possibly stop--terrorism, but I haven't finalized my ideas. I am still trying to find the logical end to that line of thinking, contrasting my ideas with our strategy in Vietnam, and trying to see what the end results would be. At the very least, I'm not ready to state those ideas publicly; they might be...over the top.