First order of business is to accept the fact that there is no objective difference between a "freedom fighter" and a "terrorist". Neither is their behavior "evil" nor "God's bidding".
Such moralistic pronouncements merely serve to cloud the issue. We are best served to leave the propaganda outside the room and evaluate the situation dispassionately and logically.
What is the enemy? The enemy is a highly intelligent, pragmatic, and ideologically motivated subversive. What sets him apart from the average "revolutionary" type is that he resorts to criminal activity to further his goals as opposed to the normal political channels.
The enemy is a criminal, and this is important to establishing the strategy.
Next, we have to establish the type of criminal organization we are dealing with.
The "legitemately motivated" terrorist- This is not to imply that their methods or overall goals are legitemate, but that their complaints against the targetted state have merit *according to their targetted representative population* (see below).
The "extremist terrorist"- A terrorist group who's goals do not align with their adopted "representative population" (note: That's not us, but rather the average Arab Muslim on the street)
The "state-sponsored terrorist"- really, in the legal sense, a proxy agent of the parent state.
By far, the LM is the most difficult to deal with, and Al Qaeda can best be described as fitting this category.
When dealing with this group, we must evaluate the sentiments and complaints from the terrorist group and it's identity population. It serves our interests to alienate the identity group from the terrorists and align them with us. This is necessary because the terrorists live and die by the support of this group. IOW, the battle against this group is really a battle *for* the hearts and minds of the worldwide Arab and Muslim community. Succeed here, and the terrorist organization will wither and die due to lack of support. Fail, and the terrorist organization will grow in numbers, capability, and virulence, eventually supplanting entire governments.
To this end:
Changes in American foreign policy:
-Exit Iraq immediately.
-Stop supporting Israel in instances where we know they're wrong
-Refuse to align with governments that are seen worldwide as tyrannical/ oppressive
-Refuse to involve ourselves in the internal affairs of other countries
-Reduce our reliance on foreign oil. Even a 15% reduction would be adequate to eliminate our dependence on the middle east.
Changes in American tactics:
-Every single action we undertake will be fully in accordance with American and international law.
-No more secret prisons
-No more torture, no matter how dire the immediate threat
-No more referring to the enemy combatants as...well..."enemy combatants". They are to be referred to as "criminals".
-We will treat them and refer to them no differently than we handle any other organized crime syndicate; completely above-board with full due process.
-We will scrap all laws differentiating between "terrorist" acts and other criminal activity.
Going on the offensive:
-Take advantage of every opportunity our enemy affords us to denounce them as criminals against their own society. We must loudly decry every mosque bombing, every Jordanian hotel bombing, every "innocent" murdered.
-Take every opportunity afforded to wedge the terrorists from the Muslims.
-Take advantage of the intelligence gathered to directly target and disrupt their criminal activity. This is where the "judicial application of force" comes into play. These efforts must be seen as legitemate in the world community, and more importantly the Muslim community.
-Never, *ever* cede any authority to terrorists. Example, negotiating with Al Sadr (or for that matter Clinton's dealings with Arafat). They represent criminals, they *never* represent the identity population.
- When captured, they are to be imprisoned as criminals, not interred as enemy combatants.
-Seek every opportunity to deal and negotiate with legitemate representatives for the same goals that the terrorists wish to bring about.
Rinse and repeat as necessary, and the terrorist threat will reduce and eventually disappear. The people will reject the terrorists and start working to apprehend them because they (like everyone else) prefer peaceful resolution and prosperity to war.