| I should mention that someone published an editorial from the LA Times suggesting that though Iraq was better off, the world was not. Since I do not believe that at any given time the number of people willing to blow themselves up for a cause is infinite, and since I do not even believe that the number of people willing to take substantial risk of death or capture is infinite, I do, in fact, suppose that the more terrorists we kill or capture, the more progress we are making to reducing the threat to manageable levels. Even if it "helps recruitment", that is in a context where funds, logistical infrastructure, training and command structure are being stopped, destroyed, and put to flight, so effectiveness must deteriorate. In the long run, though, even recruitment must suffer. Thus, as far as I can see, we cannot help but to be better off than we were, the more so as things evolve. |
