On our response to the terrorist attacks

Oh, great! This sort of revenge attitude is precisely the kind of thing that which whe terrorists want, and the kind of thing that leads to more of these terrorist attacks.

1. We get attacked, and innocent people die, so
2. we go out and 'punnish' innocent people who are vaguely associated with the cause of the killers.
3. switch sides and go to step one.

Hatred and random violence are not the appropriate responses to violence. Hatred comes from fear. Generating fear in random people on the other side is only going to create an opening for those who wish to generate more hatred against us.

Most notably: attacks against innocents only vaguely associated with the terrorists only helps the cause of the terrorists. It makes more people desperate and angry -- feeding the machinery of the terrorists. This is the last thing we want.

I'm not going to call for no retaliation. I am, however going to call for no random retaliation. Retaliation against civilian targets only vaguely associated with (the) terrorists will simply create more people, more desperate and more angry. It plays into the hands of the terrorist by creating even more people who are angry and/or desperate enough to work on suicide or other terrorist attacks.

Consider, for a moment, the kind of desperation it would take for someone to be a suicide attacker. Even in extreme situations, it is the rare person who would do something like this. It requires the willful creation of a desperate situation within a large population over a period of time.

Someone touched on this in an earlier post. What Israel has been doing to the Palestinian people in response to the Intifada has created a breeding ground for terrorists -- especially suicidal terrorists.

Retaliation should be strong and as swift as possible -- but against terrorists only. We are now experiencing, firsthand, the result of anger being directed against innocent civilian targets. If we take on the tactics of our attackers all we will do is feed the cycle of violence and hatred -- leading only to more death and destruction.

Break the circle. Stop violence against (innocent) civilians.

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