Contemporary history-war on terror

The planners of the attack on the airliner on Xmas day assumed that the US has learned nothing from the Sept.11 disaster. They assumed correctly. A few points to keep in mind
1 Each segment of the anti terror bureaucracy is as secretive as it always was, regarding the other segments as its main rival. This atmosphere of mutual suspicion hasn't changed even though a Department of Homeland security has been formed. I am reminded of the interservice rivalries of the cold war. Who was it that said that the Third world war would be fought between the American army and the American air force? Perhaps the war on terror will be fought between the FBI and the CIA.
2 The system is still as stupid as it always was. A man on a watch list who boards a plane with no luggage arouses no suspicion. This is reminiscent of Massoumi who blithely enrolled for flying lessons requesting that he be exempted from those that taught taking off and landing.hapless local FBI agent couldn't persuade his superiors that this is strange behavior.
3.There are however some new developments:
a. The authorities were alerted by the terrorist's father.Is this part of a new development Parents also alerted authorities in U.S about Somali young men who were raised as American citizens who were recruited for Somalia El Qaeda. The "snitching" of the parents may be tip of the iceberg of a wider phenomenon of Moslem abhorrence for El Qaeda.
b. Bush's first pronouncement that any state that harbors terrorists is a legitimate target for US reprisals needs to be reformulated. At the moment there are several states that fit this escription: Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq,Somalia and Yemen. Are the Americans going to invade all of them? But this doesn't mean that his critics had it right. These (Rick Salutin among them) claimed that Al Qaeda should be treated as a criminal gang like the Mafia and the proper response to them is to set up an anti gangster unit such as that of Eliot Ness in Chicago of the thirties. This makes some sense. After all it could be argued that Hamburg and London were as important for the plotting of terror attacks as any of these countries. This seems not to be so.Police work is mandatory, and its seems to have been reasonably productive. But El Qaeda can't operate as a focal point for scattered enraged individuals. It seems to need home bases and safe havens to solidify community.
cIt is clear that Muslim cooperation is essential to defeat Al Qaeda. Evidently the government of Yemen is very determined to crush them .This opens th questions ,What are te Islamic fault lines.To say that it is between liberal and fundamentalist Muslims is too simplistic. The Sunnis who were so important for the American surge in Iraq were not liberals. Neither is the government of Yemen. Paradoxically the government that is most hostile to Al Qaeda is that of Iran. New thinking is called for