International assistance
Intervention should be avoided at all costs. The US should help weak and failed states gain legitimacy through foreign aid and other forms of assistance. This choice requires the US to increase its foreign aid and assistance programs. In truly dire situations, the US would support UN-led peacekeeping interventions but would still condemn outright unilateral military intervention.
As President George W. Bush, you have made a series of choices dealing with America's counter-terrorism policies. Let's analyze your choices and their implications.
Your decision to pull out of the Middle East will constrain America's ability to conduct successful interventions. You hope that pulling the US out of the Middle East in the short term will reduce the blowback effect of intervention.
Furthermore, after a new round of IAEA inspections, it is found that Iraq is not pursuing nuclear weapons, but that it maintains a stockpile of chemical weapons that could be transferred to terrorists. Saddam Hussein decides to pursue stringent safeguards and allow future IAEA inspections in exchange for the lifting of Western sanctions on Iraq. However, Iraq could easily hide a smaller stockpile of chemical weapons if it so chooses.
Next, you decided to increase American foreign assistance to future weak and failed states. Foreign aid is generally ineffective. The recipient government must be able and willing to efficiently allocate these resources. Corrupt officials, authoritarianism, lack of distribution networks, and strong non-state groups all threaten the effectiveness of the aid. Minimizing interventionism in the long run may reduce the probability of blowback radicalization and terrorism, but you should expect terrorism to continue to thrive as safe havens will likely continue to exist.
The issues of terrorism and weak/failed states do not have easy solutions, but you have done a subpar job. You have adopted a coherent national strategy to deal with the threat of terrorism, but your stance is too soft. Ultimately, al-Qaeda will continue to thrive and future terrorists attacks will be likely. Furthermore, you have not assuaged the American public and will not get re-elected in 2004.