so I was thinking about it, and I'm going to catch a LOT of flak for this idea, but it's one I feel is worth looking into.

The best way to permanently end the threat would be to destroy their religion. They all fight in the name of Allah, and many islamist groups want to impose Islamic law on a worldwide basis. Now, killing a few islamists will only make Muslims angry, in order to permanently put an end to this vicious cycle would be to end it the way you end any war, you destroy their will to fight. and by ending the religion, I mean basically saying "To hell with the middle east and Islam!" and doing what we've always needed to do to end the problem.

a good first move would be to bomb the Kaaba in Mecca during the Hajj. this could probably be done easily enough with a squadron of stealth aircraft, mainly because Saudi Arabia would NEVER see it coming. Who would do such a thing? The answer? a nation with a leader interested with ultimate victory and not just appeasing the enemy and exchanging tit for tat.

This would send a very clear message of "We're tired of your shit." Then, we turn our sights to various other Islamic holy sites and reduce them to rubble. This would make many Muslims second guess their faith, as they see Allah allowing the infidel to destroy the holy sites.

Now, before you say, "But that would make us no better than them!" Maybe, but I'm looking at the end result, It would be like Catholics watching Vatican City be reduced to rubble and the pope killed, surely Jesus would not allow his most holy city to be destroyed.... right? exactly.