We're all far too familiar with the near daily reports of homicide bombings, those murderous attacks on non-military and non-political people and targets. In those attacks the murderer commits his / her heinous crime with the full knowledge that they will be instantly destroyed.
People like that are either captured or killed before they carry out their planned crimes, or they succeed. If the 'civilized' world knows of such an impending event, they arrest or kill the perps. Either is an appropriate action.
But what happens when an entire nation develops that homicide bomber mentality? A nation that so hates another nation or group that they are perfectly willing to be destroyed just so the history of the world will note that they struck a blow for their cause?
You're the leader of the free world. You know of such countries. You, my faithful readers, can all name more than one like that. So what do you do? You can't arrest them. Will you legitimately kill them by striking pre-emptively? Or will you wait for them to strike their blow first, suffer untold millions of deaths, before you do the 'civilized' thing - retaliate?
But wait! Don't call yet! There is a complication! Our current poser, Barack Hussein Obama, has all but announced to the world that he will not use nukes. I guess, should we be attacked, our retaliation will be his superior intellect, good intentions and vast hordes of briefcase-wielding lawyers - assuming he survives. But what message do you think those homicidal nations will take from his 'no nukes' position? Remember, these are nations whose leadership cares nothing for who might be in charge of 'civilized' nations. It is enough that 'civilized' nations exist, for them to be the targets of their hatred.
Your ostrich killer has the answer, as do many millions like myself. It isn't a pretty one, since deterrence of the classical sort (big stick) won't work. But sometimes survival depends on beheading the snake before it bites.
National security, then, would seem to have at least two distinct components: deterrence of rational nations via 'big stick,' and neutralization of nations that can't be deterred by any way other than depriving them of means to carry out such an attack. Neutralization means simply making them harmless. There are obviously many ways to do that, all of them difficult and distasteful. But make no mistake - failure to do so will result in millions of American deaths, because we are the Great Satan, or whatever odious name other irrational countries call us.
I don't see any tangible proof that 'civilized' attempts at neutralization anywhere in the world are paying off. Do you? Doesn't that beg the question 'Okay, so what else can we do?'
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