Bin Laden is widely admired by Muslim fundamentalists in the Middle East and around the world. If he were killed tomorrow, hundreds would be eager to take his place as Most Famous Terrorist. They could do it, too, because bin Laden's terrorism isn't a one-man show. Bin Laden and other terrorists are aided and abetted by half a dozen countries in the Middle East.

How do we know that? We know--from terrorists who have been captured and from journalists' visits--that terrorists are trained in camps. There, new recruits are taught how to kill with weapons or bare hands, how to make bombs, how to sneak into foreign countries, how to operate complicated electronic equipment. This takes a lot of time and a lot of materials: ingredients for bombs, ammunition for guns and so on. Then there's food and clothing, medical supplies, water . . . If you know someone who's been in the army, he can probably make a long list for you of things required at a training camp. All that stuff has to be replenished when it's used up and hauled out to the camps again and again.

No government can miss that sort of activity within its territory. In Afghanistan, bin Laden has ten or twelve camps, some less than 100 miles from the capital, Kabul. The Taliban (the religious group that rules Afghanistan) has been at war with other Afghanis for five years. The Taliban is not likely to overlook major movements of men and military supplies. They know who is there and what those men are training for: to cause death and destruction in the West, especially in the United States.

There are many terrorist camps outside Afghanistan. The United States and many other nations know where the camps are (even though they are frequently moved), from satellite photos. The camps are most numerous in Libya, Iran, Iraq, Syria, and the Sudan. We have asked these countries again and again to close down the camps or destroy them. We have asked them to turn over the terrorists for trial. In every single case, the governments have refused.

At the very least, these governments are giving the terrorists time and peace to sit and plot their murderous attacks. But there's more. Think about the cost to terrorists of planning and executing these attacks. Talk to your army friends about the costs of machine guns, mortars, ammunition, explosives. Talk to your parents about the cost of food, cell phones, computers. The 19 hijackers involved in the attacks on September 11 spent years in the United States, with money for tuition at flight school, food, clothing, cars, plane tickets. They were helped by other terrorists who studied airports for security weaknesses and the target buildings for how to wreak the most damage possible.

These terrorists are not loners like Timothy McVeigh. They don't work part-time at the corner deli to earn that money. Osama bin Laden's inheritance could not pay for them year after year and decade after decade. Terrorists are being given money and supplies on a massive scale. In the Middle East, where there is widespread poverty, that means they are being supported at least in part by governments.

Granting safe haven and financial support to terrorists would, all by itself, give the United States adequate reason to attack such governments. But such terrorist-supporting governments do even more than provide sanctuary and funding. They give terrorists approval and legitimacy--a moral sanction for mass murder. Like a schoolyard bully who becomes even more violent when his cronies egg him on, terrorists become ever more murderous when they are backed by governments who declare that the terrorists are doing noble deeds, and who rejoice when the terrorists kill more innocent victims.