It seems to me that perhaps we (the UK and the United States) are going down the wrong route, surly we should have learnt something about dealing with terrorists during the Ireland conflict peace has only been possible since we were willing to listen to the IRA, and the Sinn Fein speaker Jerry Adams was allowed to be seen and speak in his own voice on television, if we persist in and trying to fight our way through (or out of) this conflict we will find ourselves fighting a never ending battle, and many more soft targets like Turkey will happen time and time again.
Iraq and al qaeda have nothing in common with the situation in Northern Ireland. The only mistake we have made is that we did not blast Saddam out of existence many years ago.
The Northern Ireland peace process is possible because the IRA/Sinn Fein is willing to negotiate, because they realised that the terrorist campaign was unwinnable. i.e. it is a different situation. Al-Qaeda is not interested in talking (or negotiating).
The problem with neogtiation is that there needs to be some sort of dialogue between the 2 partys. Al-Qaeda has'nt actually made any demands so its difficult for the UK/US to meet them. Also you have to be firm otherwise it would encourage others to use the same tactics. But as Gef say's I think the US have made this problem worse by going for Saddam if they wanted to get rid of him they should have done it in the first place not now.
Tony Blair has done more to advance the peace talks in Northern Ireland than any other British Prime Minister in living memory. Perhaps we should trust his judgement with regards to global terrorism as well.