Commentary:
This is an old email I dug up that I wrote shortly after 9-21-01. It was with regards to Afghanistan, but it is amazing how pertinent it is today.

In a message dated 9/21/01 2:16:57 PM Eastern Daylight Time, mmckenney@cwcmh.org writes:

  Well you might imagine that I disagree with the solution of bombing Afghanistan off the planet, however I do agree with the approach suggested by our fearless leader Bush last night--target the terrorists, not the people of Afghanistan, for whom their very faith and country has also been hijacked.

[My response]
Personally speaking, although the thought of civilian casualties frightens me, I believe that we are dealing with an enemy that will not hesitate to hide behind their populace. As evidenced by the atrocities, and indeed, history, they consider the battlefield to be among schools and stores; office buildings and day cares; airport terminals and sporting events. And that accusation flies not only to Muslim extremists, but to all terrorists.  Examples include the Oklahoma City bombing, The OMAGH, Northern Ireland bombing, the Tokyo Subway chemical attack (Sarin Poisoning on Tokyo Subway), and accounts of unwilling grade school-aged suicide bombers in Vietnam walking into US compounds wearing 15 pounds of plastique. Ergo, since they have accepted the fact that there will be civilian casualties (actually they relish in it) so must we. The peoples that hide and house them have no qualms about it, so they will pay the same price, however dear, as victims. This is part of the resolution that I believe President Bush spoke of: we must be willing not only to take American casualties but also to inflict civilian casualties on the enemy.

These people are willing to die for their cause, and I argue that we should oblige them, but at a time and place of OUR choosing, not theirs. We should fight the war the way America knows how: swift, decisive, disproportionate, and utterly crushing. With the first attack on the US mainland since the war of 1812, those responsible have expressed their willingness to feel the full brunt of American fury and retribution. Although we should not engaged in wanton killing, targets should not consider themselves safe in the middle of civilians.

I think that the ground war that is surely coming will be more for the American People, to in fact prove that we got the bastard, as well as as many of his subordinates that of which they can find the pieces.

Will this stop terrorism? Probably not, but it will dictate what the exchange rates are for American blood.