How you treat terrorists is a large part of whether or not you get to deal with MORE terrorists.
During the mid-1980's, multiple US citizens were taken hostage in Lebanon by Hezbollah, a terrorist group which received support from Iran and Syria. During this period, three Soviet citizens were taken hostage by Hezbollah for a period of one week. The reason why the Soviet hostages were released promptly was due to a single KGB operation. Within several days of the kidnappings, the KGB seized a leader of the Hezbollah, castrated him, stuffed his testicles into his mouth, shot him in the head and left his corpse at a Hezbollah base with an ominous note that if the hostages were not released immediately more of the same would occur. Although the method by which the KGB carried out the assassination was horrendous, the operation brought about the rapid and safe release of all three Soviet hostages.
And it's noteworthy that thereafter Hezbollah didn't muck with Russians. Not only did it end this particular incident, it also prevented any others from taking place.
(from USS Clueless)
Ah, sunny Cuba. 3 squares, 5 prayers a day. It ain't 72 virgins, but hey, it ain't so bad.