Right now, OBL is sitting in a cafe in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. He is joking, with his fellow conspirators, about murdering your kid. Fully intending to carry out his conspiracy, he and his buddies spend their full time planning mass murder here in the US.
The government of Pakistan, supported by the people of that nation, take no effective action against Osama. Thus, they are complicit in planning these murders.
What measures are we justified in taking now? What measures will we be justified in taking after the next mass murder is committed?
Remember what happened in WWII when there was a mass existential threat to the children of Americans. The fire bombing of Tokyo, which was largely constructed of paper products. The fire bombing of Dresden, which was a major industrial center. The rounding up of possible persons posing a domestic threat, based only upon possible threat status. The total destruction of German infrastructure. Have you ever seen a photograph of the center of Berlin taken in June of 1945?
It seems likely that a nuclear attack on NYC would precipitate a reaction on that scale. It wouldn’t necessarily be nuclear, but the gloves would come all of the way off. Nobody would care about civilian casualties anymore. Those protecting the conspirators, even by silent assent, would have earned their new status as target.
If waterboarding an identified conspirator would prevent such an event, would it be justified?
How about torture, if it might save a million lives?
