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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group
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To: greenspirit who wrote (95296)4/21/2003 12:39:24 AM
From: Dayuhan  Read Replies (3) of 281500
 

If Osama Bin Laden truly believed we would hunt him down in every cave complex he built in Afghanistan, I doubt he would have acted so brazenly and killed so many innocent Americans.

I don't think that would have mattered in the slightest. This is a person who went to Afghanistan to fight the Russians, whose resolve was never in any doubt. These are not people that are terribly concerned with their own welfare. They are trying to provoke a war, and they know perfectly well that many of them, probably most, will end up being martyred.

These people are violent, medieval, lunatics, and many other things besides, but let's not make the mistake of thinking that they are going to stop attacking us just because we are attacking them.

Reacting strongly toward terrorist attacks has beneficial side effects. Fanatical muslims may dance on the street claiming their hatred for America. But, they may now respect us enough not to act on those words of hatred.

Do you really think that people who are willing to blow themselves up are going to worry about retaliation?

We may - or may not - be able to deter some of the people who support terrorists, but we cannot deter the terrorists themselves. Deterrence requires the rational weighing of cost and benefit by the party being deterred, and this is not part of the terrorist attitude.
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