From Dave Farber's IP list:

You don't have to like Richard Dawkins' politics or believe in the 

>ontological reality of memes [see note below] to recognize that there's a 

>remarkable similarity between epidemiological notions and the phenomena of 

>terrorism.  Smallpox was eradicated by the application of four basic 

>principles that can easily be extended to apply to terrorism itself:

>

>* distinguish among toxins, diseases, and infectious agents: bombs, 

>suicide detonations, and terroristic tracts and schools, respectively.

>* immunization of threatened populations: education in  the futility of 

>terrorism and provision of alternative conflict-resolution options. Many 

>commentators have attributed terrorism to the helplessness of third world 

>poverty; it would be marvelous to see actual data on "natural experiments" 

>that show causation rather than mere correlation.

>

>* eradication of reserviors of infection ("draining the swamps") - 

>destruction of terrorist training camps, replacement of governments 

>supporting terrorism, and interdiction of organized financial support.

>

>* quarrantine of both reservoirs and individual infected victims: 

>embargoes against state sponsors and imprisonment of terrorism advocates. 

>This point suggests that censorship of communications may be more 

>effective than sanctions against material trade. Of course there are 

>enforcement problems for, say, books smuggled inside bags of grain.

>

>Clearly this vastly oversimplifies the problem of terrorism, but I hope it 

>also shows the great opportunities for valuable research.