Minority Report

Excellent previous post Ne'er. Welcome back and congrats for having survived the gauntlet. What was your favorite beer?
I trust we've all seen the eponymous movie and remember the premise. It is my opinion that the U.S. Government currently operates under those same principles vis-a-vis terrorists and terrorism. These pre-emptive operating principles are at legal and ethical odds with the precepts on which this country was founded.
With a few notable exceptions, European governments are much more mature in their handling of situations involving terrorists and terrorism. I believe that terrorist entities, be they dictatorial governments or individuals must be allowed to declare themselves to some demonstrable degree before we bring force to bear. Would I be willing to place myself or my loved ones in harm's way for this cause?..................................That's a qualified "NO". No, but I accept and can live with a degree of unpredictability in life. In a war with no boundaries, we are all combatants. If we are willing, as a country to countenance our young men and women being IED fodder, then we should, by extension be willing to risk domestic violence in order to allow our enemies to declare themselves. We had no legitimate casus belli for invading Iraq. The degree to which we are risk averse in this arena is untenable. We want clean wars. Surgical strikes. Ignorable covert ops. These are all basically oxymorons.
Ankh