A sensible 'war on terror.'

From the Los Angeles Times: food instead of bombs, undercutting the radicals' support instead of helping them recruit with every bomb dropped --

"In Gaza and the West Bank, for example, where the [United States Agency for International Development] spent $50 million in 2007, the agency ran a publicity campaign to draw attention to its efforts and then polled to assess the results. The percentage of Palestinians who knew the Arabic name for the agency rose from 32% to 52% in less than a year, the percentage of hard-core rejectionists who oppose accepting U.S. government assistance dropped from 47% to 43%, and the percentage who believed the agency was sincere about helping the Palestinian people rose to 67%. Such gains won't usher in Middle East peace tomorrow, but they do demonstrate that it is possible to change attitudes even among one of the world's most embittered populations in a relatively short time.

Polling by the nonprofit group Terror Free Tomorrow also indicates that direct humanitarian aid improves the perception of the United States even among Pakistani Muslims who express support for Al Qaeda. Skeptics say that the public opinion bounce from humanitarian aid is short-lived. But the data show the reverse: Nearly three years after the massive tsunami relief effort, almost 60% of Indonesians said the aid had made them favorable toward the U.S."