That's progress?

I don't understand Jim Henley's rationale here:

...But then I thought of Madrid. One detail has gotten lost. The killers detonated their bombs by cell phone. They themselves got off the train safely, though alert action by the Aznar government rounded several of them up in short order.

They didn't kill themselves too.

Yes, they murdered hundreds. Yes they are evil men, mass murderers who should be killed after trial and sentencing. Yes, we have a long way to go. But they were not suicides like the destroyers of the Cole and Khobar Towers, the WTC hijackers and the numberless slaughterers of Jews in Israel and elsewhere. The President has already taught these aficionados of martyrdom to value their own lives, if not yet others. That's progress. That's a start. It is not, obviously, a final victory. But it's proof that our government's plan to change the culture of death is starting to work. Once our enemies realize the central principle of our own culture - that life is sweet - for themselves, then the next lesson is to apply the principle to others...

Huh?! Is this really Bush's plan for combating terrorism--

1. Teach terrorists to value their own lives
2. Teach terrorists to value the lives of others

For a president who's supposed to be tough and strong and no-nonsense, that seems pretty... wimpy. What, is Bush going to teach the terrorists that they are all unique and special? Will that lecture be followed by cookies and a nap?

I suspect that terrorists already realize the value of their own lives, and that's why acts of terrorism that involve suicide make such a dreadful statement -- the terrorist felt so strongly about something that they were willing to sacrifice their lives, and murder others, to try to change things. If anything, the fact that the Madrid terrorists didn't kill themselves during their terrorist act is a step backward, because it shows that terrorists can attack us with impunity, and unless our law enforcement efforts are strong, there will be no consequences for the terrorists.

Update: Apparently I didn't realize that the post was an April Fools' joke. Sorry -- it sounded too much like an Andrew Sullivan argument to be funny.