Look where the US has got with its "bold step" of invading Iraq and Afghanistan. The west has nearly lost the war in Afghanistan, and Iraq has descended into civil war. The answer to problems is dialogue, not aggression. It's much easier and sexier to blow people up, but the result is to create more problems, not solve them. In the UK, we talked to the IRA and now there is peace there. The more we act like dialogue with terrorists is doing them a big favour, the worse the problem becomes. This premise of governments like the US and Israel, that talking to your opponents is a sign of weakness, is demonstrably rubbish - look how the situation in Israel keeps getting worse. If the Delhi government hadn't screwed up talks with ULFA, Assam might not now be the tinderbox it is now. Really, you just need to look around the world to see that aggression is an easy, popular and stupid response. Dialogue and diplomacy is complex, unpopular, and messy. However in the long term it is what produces results. Anybody who is really interested in peace and takes a look at history and the world around them will acknowledge this.
