Take me from war arguments...but not yet
Hall-of-famer Satchel Paige once said words to the effect of "avoid fried foods, which angry up the blood". I'm finding I have to avoid war commentary sites to avoid "angryin' up my blood". (My heart and mind tell me to be for the war, my pope something else; the disconnect is unpleasant). The old Soviet Union had almost no terrorist acts perpetrated against them because they reacted ruthlessly the few times it did occur. The terrorists understood - you don't mess with the USSR. Since we are much more sensitive to questions of right and wrong, we cannot, nor should, be as ruthless. Which means that we will necessarily be taken advantage of by terrorists at a higher rate. So it becomes - what is an acceptable rate of terrorism? What is proportional? Very difficult question. It's like mosquitos biting at an elephant - the elephant can let a certain percentage gnaw at him but given some point the loss of blood will cause him to begin taking measures that appear unreasonable because he causes collateral damage to the surrounding forest.
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