You want to annihilate them, just as they want to annihilate us. It's like throwing grease on a fire or even fighting fire with fire. Do you not realize the amount of destruction "total annihilation" could and, most likely would, cause, or the possible disruption of innocent civilian lives? It's easy to say "kill 'em all", but before you do that, alot of thought needs to be given to the dire consequences that would cause. Plus, it's almost impossible to to completely eradicate a belief. Even if you supposedly killed all the Muslims in the world and globally banned islam and its practices, there's still a chance of people privately being Muslims who believe in Jihad.
I felt more safe walking the streets of both Old and New Town, Edinburgh at 2am in the morning than I do walking the streets of Albany, Ga(a city 1/5th the size of Edinburgh) right now in broad daylight. Not just as far as acts of terrorism are comcerned, but just acts of random crimes, like mugging.
Edinburgh's crime rate is significantly lower than
that of Albany's. The UK, overall, is much safer than most big cities in the US. The states aren't only dealing with foreign terrorists; our biggest problem is home grown, lone wolves terrorists Columbine, Oklahoma City Bombing, Virginia Tech, Aurora, Colorado, Roof in Charleston, SC, just to name a few.
I wish that there was a cure-all answer to end terrorism, but there isn't. The best way to not let the terrorists win is to not become terrified of them. As long as we continue to live our normal lives as Americans, Brits etc (humans actually), the terrorists lose.