How to create more Terrorists in 2 easy steps

[quaker bill]

12. I do not get

where you are finding the sense of my "comfort" about anything going in the ME, from anything I have actually written. I am not comfortable about any of it.

Everything we do to oppose terrorists arguably creates more of them. Drones were not flying in the ME before 9/11. My reading indicates that Al-Queda got its start during the USS Missouri (a WWII destroyer with 16" guns) bombardment of Lebanon. They reportedly organized around blowing up the Marine barracks there in opposition to this plain old 1940's style attack.

You argue that drones are more effective at making terrorists, but it is pretty clear that we have plenty of other means at our disposal. It only took 19 terrorists to start two wars. Can we become so effective at not "creating" terrorists that there will not be 19 of them? I would approve of this effort, were it undertaken. I do not know the size and shape of it, and I am quite sure you don't either, but I am sure that grounding drones will only be a small component.

It is hard to tell from the lack of reporting, but as best as I can tell, the drones are not flying in Iraq. The violence there continues. True, they are generally not shooting at us, because we are not there, however they weren't shooting at us before the invasion.

The Carnegie Endowment for Peace suggests things are far less simple than you propose, in their writing of "Peaceful Prevention of Deadly Conflict". I think they come closer to having a grip on things.