HST-libertarian:

You DO realize the jihadis use computers and the internet for recruitment, planning and weapons technology dissemination, don't you? Why would we want to improve their network infrastructure and node sophistication? I swear Obama could decide to pardon Osama bin Ladin and send him $25 billion for the trouble of having to live in a cave for the past eight years and you clowns would just do "golf claps" and move on. As for Bush and Blackwater, no one here was a bigger critic of them than me...

Well, yes, Jihadis have been known to use the internet for all sorts of nefarious and homicidal purposes. . . but that's not a major (or even significant) element of information traffic anywhere, except maybe for the LAN in Osama Bin Laden's spider hole. . . and even there, it's likely that the level of official "Jihad-related traffic" comes in a distant third, lagging far behind the categories of "Decadent Online Gaming" and "Sinful Western Porn." I mean, C'mon. . . Jihadis have also been known to make use of briefcases, wristwatches, and pants, but I don't see anyone arguing for an export ban.

As for Bin Laden. . . you know, you might just be on to something, there. If Obama offered him a Presidential pardon and $25 billion in exchange for a cease-fire. . .he might just be arrogant enough to take our "surrender" at face value, and emerge hiding to collect his "reparations" and crow about his triumph over the "Great Satan". . .right up until the moment the B-2 bombers arrive at his position, and he figures out that we were lying. . . shame on us. It's a truly beautiful vision, and worth a hell of a lot more than a "golf clap" if Obama should ever pull it off.