How they fight terror  

Haggai emailed this response to my post on the long-term effects the capture of Khalid Sheik Mohammed will have in the war on terror:

Re: your post on terrorist organizations replacing their captured/killed leaders and possibly retaliating, the Israeli strategy for targeting terrorists is much more complex than is sometimes portrayed in the media, which too often portrays each Israeli act as bringing a Palestinian reaction that happened solely because Israel struck first. As damaging as I think the current Israeli government's refusal to take any diplomatic steps is, I have little or no disagreements with how they fight terror. Here's an article that deals with the policy at some length.

I didn't mean to paint Israeli strategy as simple or naive with respect to the terrorist threat. I don't think Palestinian terrorists attack first and foremost because they are retaliating for the retaliations, and I'm pretty sure there would still be attacks absent the IDF reprisals (in fact, we've seen this). But it's impossible to look at the situation and say rationally that taking out terrorist leaders has diminished the long-term threat to Isreal. In the short term, it may make terrorist operations more difficult, but ultimately - unless you think all Palestinians are terrorists - the lack of a diplomatic approach is catastrophic for any hope of peace.

So, I'm not suggesting they put the breaks on ther counterterrorism operations - I've got no beef with Israeli military and intelligence tactics, which are probably the most accurate in the world. I just think it stinks as a long-run peace strategy.