In response

At 11:00:52 AM, Jeff said... I have to say that I believe confronting a nation that has nuclear capabilities is like a police officer telling a guy walking into a bank that he knows he has a gun in his jacket pocket. Maybe it will deter him from robbing the bank at gunpoint, maybe it'll just get him shot first.

First, outside of what the reactions of the robber might be or could be, the police officers are honor bound to protect the citizens they serve. The officer stops the robber by confronting the robber before the robber robs the bank, not while he is doing it, and not after the deed is done.

Our government is honor bound to protect it citizens, no matter the cost.

I said, "5. American Intelligence has not caught Bin Laden, but they are working on that. Less Safe, just by the fact that we don't know where he is."

Jeff said...We are less safe than when? What state of affairs were we in that has changed to make us less safe?

I model this situation much like this. You enter your house, and their is an dangerous snake in it that you do not know about. To me you would be in more danger, if you did not know there was an dangerous snake in you house than if you did, but the reality of the situation stays unchanged. If you did not know there was a snake and had no suspicion of one, you would go though you house just like normal. If you did know there was a snake you would leave and take proper action, like calling animal control.

Now lets say that this animal control officer enters the house looking for the snake. They are putting their selves in more danger than if they did not enter the house, that is obvious. Though it must be stated that the level of danger is greater than if you were just wondering randomly around the house. They are activity seeking out the dangerous animal, one that is hidden and could strike from a hidden location.

This is what we are doing right now with bin laden. We are trying to find a dangerous animal, this one is a lot smarter than a snake, and it is also trying to hurt us at the exact same time.

We are safer because we know about bin laden, but we are less safe know because we do not have him and are trying to chase him down. I am weighting the fact that we are could end up with cornered crazed animal a little bit more. I am stealing Andrew's argument of "You need to strike a balance between keeping them from running off on their own and lashing out like a trapped animal".

cube