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.
The number need not be infinite. It needs only to be higher than can be apprehended.
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.
You're making much of little. Tim McVeigh didn't need "logistical infrastructure, training and command structure." That's the trouble with terrorists. A couple guys and some fertilizer and you've got a terrorist cell.
In the end, there will be no alternative to examining the grievances underlying the creation of terrorists. Our support for tyrants, while talking grandly about defeating them, would be a place to start. |
