[thoughtomator]

It might be even more valuable to make the point that we don't give a crap about traitorous Westerners who naively make themselves easy marks for hostage-takers.

[gondramB]

"It might be even more valuable to make the point that we don't give a crap about traitorous Westerners who naively make themselves easy marks for hostage-takers."

It certainly is tempting... but I think the Romans got it right with the Pax Romana - where a Roman citizen could walk to the ends of the earth and no one dared harm him because they knew the might of the empire would come down on them If we differentiate by whether the citizen is an idiot it lessens the lesson.