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Strike at the Head, and the Tail Dies by Gordon Francis Corbett
Confucius said that wisdom begins with calling things by their right names.
He was right. Calling things by their right names clarifies confusion,
facilitates rational thought, and prepares the way for
action.
Consider terrorism. What our leaders call, "terrorism," is
really an old form of warfare waged by soldiers in mufti. They work for
money. The pay owed to those who die as human bombs usually goes to the
suicides' families. The others work for pay in the ordinary sense, as
soldiers of fortune have always done.
Mercenaries serve paymasters, who, in turn, work for sponsors. Because
they supply the money, sponsors are really the ones who, pardon the expression,
"call the shots."
In a moment of perhaps uncharacteristic candor, C.F.R. member Edward Luttwak
said on a television program after TWA 847 was abducted that the way to stop
terrorism is to kill the politicians who send the terrorists. That method
worked for the British in the nineteenth century, he said, and it would work for
us. I never heard him speak in that way again.
Consider Yasir Arafat. Few deserve death more than he does. He
earned our mortal enmity in 1973. By short-wave radio, he ordered P. L. O.
thugs to kill our Ambassador and our chargé in Khartoum, and they followed his
orders.
Nevertheless, we can easily imagine why our government has not used Mr.
Luttwak's suggestion. Arafat's sponsors are numerous, and include the
governments of Saudi Arabia and of Syria. Killing him would create
political and economic trouble for Europe and Japan, who derive much of their
oil from the Middle East.
Proceeding to kill the politicians who provide money or diplomatic support to
Arafat would provoke severe economic problems even for us, because our economy
is very shaky. Saudi Arabia might be able to collapse it by withdrawing
its money and by urging others to do the
same.
Killing the politicians who commissioned 11 September 2001's attacks would
almost certainly cause similar problems. That, I believe, is why the Bush
Administration has not disclosed their names.
Nevertheless, I suggest that such retribution would work. Nothing deters a
criminal like imagining his own name on a tombstone; and nothing spurs his
imagination better than hearing that a close colleague has just died violently.
The Sicilians have a saying about how to kill a snake. "Strike at the
head, and the tail dies."
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