That you can defeat extremist terrorists of ANY affiliation. I submit that you cannot. All you can do is prosecute and/or punish those people/countries/organizations that conduct/aid terror. If your aim is to defeat terrorism, you've lost already. Terrorism has existed in one form or another for as long as there have been governments (and people who seek to destabilize those governments or their policies who lack the numbers to overthrow that government), and until there is anarchy, there will always be terrorists targeting governments. For every government, no matter how big or small, no matter how powerful or ineffectual, there is at least one dedicated terroristy organization with the delusion that they can topple it (or force it to change policy it doesn't like) through unconventional means. If your stated aim is to defeat (i.e., eliminate) terror - or to, say, declare war on terror - you cannot win. If a government is supporting terror you can definitely declare war on it - but you can't defeat a concept. Wherever there are ticked off people, you have a small percentage of them on the verge of committing terrorist acts. As soon as they cross that line, they become terrorists. How can this be prevented?