Were we to start engaging in punitive expeditions as you suggest, the result just might be an escalation of punishment attempts by the other side.
I began a response to this quote and then it occured to me that perhaps we are using two seperate definitions of punitive expeditions. I use the term to mean a military response to avenge some wrong suffered. We have enaged in this type of action before from the Barbary Pirates expedition to Operation El Dorado Canyon. I do not use this term to mean some sort of military response in a COIN environemnt akin to burning huts and killing livestock.

That being said, I can only hope that you are using the later definition. We cannot base any response to terrorism on what the enemy might do. I do not fear an escalation of violence from terrorists as a response to US actions. They will escalate when they have the means to do so regardless of what we do.