After Paris - what next?

How bad does it have to get? Surely, you can hear them thinking, surely this is bad enough. Can't we just stop talking and DO something? Hollande says it's a war between the republic and terror, and the republic is going to win. No more terror. Easy as that.

But it's not. The worse it gets, the clearer our thinking needs to be. Exactly what kind of bombing in Syria is going to stop further attacks like this? Where have ISIS been stopped, without the presence of troops on the ground? Given Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, are we prepared to actually send troops in?

And now there's a new voice, arguing that the West has contributed to this mess, that targeted drone attacks fuelled the hatred that ignites terrorism, recruiting support for it just like Guantanamo Bay. (They do hate that. So many comment columns, seething that this is special, alien hatred, nothing to do with anything our government may have done). And who is it that's arguing this? The usual bunch of left-wing dreamers, who can't face facts? Actually, no. It's four ex-US service members, who between them have spent 20 years operating military drones. (Guardian 19.11.15, page 18). Makes you think, eh?