A MODEST PROPOSAL
Should we negotiate with al-Qaeda? I know, it sounds crazy, but think about it. Suppose we made an open invitation to bin Laden and al-Qaeda to negotiate, something like this:

"For the past decade and more you have waged war on us; for the past three years we have responded by waging war on you. We fight because there are values which we will not surrender. But the war has also had great costs for many, many people. Many have been killed, some people have seen freedoms taken away, and the whole world has lived in increased fear. We certainly deny, and wish to emphasize our denial, that you speak for all Muslims or for true Islam, and we believe that far more Muslims reject than accept your message. However, we also recognize that tens of millions of Muslims probably do accept you as, more or less, their spokesman. Perhaps no basis for peace between us can be found, but we would like, at the least, to ascertain what your demands are, and what might be done so that this bloodshed can cease, and the world may enjoy peace."

What would bin Laden do? He might reject our appeal, claiming it was in bad faith. We could then keep making it, with as much eloquence as we could muster. If it looked like we wanted peace and he wanted war, it seems like this would improve our reputation in the eyes of the world.

If he responded to our demands, what would his response be? If he said, "Embrace Islam, bow before Allah, and submit to the caliphate," we would say no, explain why, ask him to lower his demands. If he said "Withdraw from Iraq, withdraw from Saudi Arabia, stop supporting Israel," we could say: we are withdrawing from Saudi Arabia, in Iraq we stay only at the invitation of the Iraqi government, and what do you plan to do to Israel when we stop defending it?

Negotiation is very hard for terrorists. Leaders will compromise, their followers will feel betrayed, the movement loses its cohesion and its potency. It worked with the IRA! (Well, sort of.)

I'm for it. We look strong now, so we're in a good position to negotiate.