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Originally Posted by Beestie
So, given that, how do you suggest we defend ourselves?
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A terrorist attack is designed to prove the vulnerability of an enemy and goad the enemy into an action which decreases sympathy for them among moderates. Their goal is to play the matador, with flashy, dramatic stabs resulting in powerful lunges in the wrong direction.
What do we do? I'm no genius. The solution to terrorism isn't likely to show up on the pages of the Cellar. But if you act out the caricature of the "Great Satan", the moderates will start to secretly root for the terrorists, and the borderline people will join them. A war in the Middle East is much more than a military exercise, it really is a war for "hearts and minds". In this war, even more than in all others so far, the US must be scrupulously and dramatically ethical, moral, and fair. Otherwise we are like Mickey with the axe in Fantasia.