[rmlew]

Look at the bind Israel is in:
It can either respond by giving into demands, thus making terrorism profitable, or by destroying it.

The problem is that the media is complicit with the terrorists victimization strategy both by playing up the trauma of attacks and by playing up responses.

[risk]

I like Rumsfeld's response: go massive, sweep it all up. I completely disagree that we can maintain our liberal values (classic sense of the word: open, humanitarian, moral) in responding to terror. That's the first thing that has to go, at least in how we treat our enemies. The fire and nuclear bombings of cities in WWII were not "moral" and "liberal" acts. Once the Axis started putting people in ovens, there could be no holding back. To be moral in our response would have in itself been immoral.

It's a weak lie to say that we must hold back today.