>Walter, so what happens next? If the world continues its trend towards sectarian violence, eventually the troubles will spill over into the Netherlands as well. How can we help stablilise things?

The iraq war not started on sectarian violence. Iraq actually was a secular state (though a violent dictatorship). Iraq was the perfect breeding place for creating terrorists once the US invaded, one that was created because of the US invasion and the poor planning. Afghanistan is different and I think it is totally understandable that the US invaded that country. I think afghanistan has a much better chanche to get back up on their feet, but don't expect a true democracy.

How to proceed? Difficult to tell, but certainly the war has to end. There is no way the US is going to reach the objectives (democracy in a united Iraq). Further the western world has to be very carefull when pressing their will upon a country.

Further, we have to invest in our intelligence and in short military campaign specifically targetted at anti-terroristic campaigns. This is actually what is happenining in a lot of european countries (Prevented actions in London, The netherlands, Spain, and other countries). And certainly don't blame the muslim community on the whole. Infiltrate, find the roots of extremism and effectively eliminate them cleanly.

We should not forget that most terroristic attacks have a large preperation in the country of attack and not seldomly by citizens of that country (e.g. again, in England and The netherlands).

We also have to find the answer to the question why terrorist are aiming at the western world. Try to take out the arguments they have, in one way or another. Sure, this might not always be possible and it is vague, but the issue is very complex and the worst thing you could do is send the bull into a china shop (iraq).

Did you see http://www.nos.nl/nosjournaal/artikelen/2006/9/12/120906_galbraith.html ?

Walter