Arno,
Another analogy to use is cancerous cells in an organism. Treating that disease often involves a choice: eradicate the cancerous cells by also inevitably eradicating many of the healthy, normal cells nearby...or allow the cancer to continue unabated, until it grows and extinguishes the entire organism.
The tough part is that we, as Americans, have a moral will which makes it difficult to accept the collateral consequences that this analogy suggests. Ironically, our innocent people suffer from terrorism in part because we are unwilling to cause substantial harm to other countries' innocent people. Yes, we have taken reprisals in the past, small ones, and a few people other than the intended targets have died. But if we really wanted Bin Laden dead, and we really knew that he was hiding in a cave outside a certain city in Afghanistan, a few well placed neutron bombs would do the trick.
We aren't willing to do that. But he would be, if he had the bombs. |
