Terrorism

But the problem is not one that can be evaded by foregoing technology nuclear or other. A dedicated terrorist will fear only one threat: failure. And civilized societies can guarantee him that result by refusing to negotiate.

The recent liberation of hostages in Somalia by German commandos is an inspiring and welcome change from the policies of short-sighted opportunism that encouraged blackmail and murder.

The success of the German action (and even had it failed, it would have saved countless lives in the future) has provoked the frenzy of the Fascists of the Left in Europe. Judging from previous occasions, their howls will not long be delayed in America, either.

The precedent for action against political hijackings was set at Entebbe in July 1976, when Israeli commandos brought 90 minutes of civilization to Idi Amin's barbarous fiefdom. The Free World was then filled with admiration and gratitude for this blow against terrorism.

Almost all of it, that is. Among the very few in the US to condemn the raid was the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, a non-bulletin of non-atomic non-scientists, subscribed to only by the better people (median family income in the top 50% of all US households) who delight in reading its anti-defense,de-industrialization, "America stinks" dissertations. On that occasion, it editorialized:

"Did the raid really save lives? That cannot be known because negotiations for the release of the hostages were interrupted by the raid. What is known is that the raid brought death to hostages, hijackers and Ugandan soldiers to say nothing of the many innocent people whom the humiliated president Idi Amin of Uganda evidently killed in reprisal." [Note that this list not only falsely includes "hostages," but characteristically omits the Israeli commander who was killed in the raid - his blood was evidently deemed too cheap to be listed.]

"Rather than deter terrorism," says this brilliant editorial, "the Entebbe raid is likely to facilitate it in the long run... One wonders whether the raid accomplished anything more than to inflate the egos and boost the political stock of those who ordered it...

Needless to say, the B.A.S. is rabidly anti-nuclear. But at least it is consistent: In the field of energy, it promotes a policy that would keep the public death toll high; in the field of terrorism, it promotes a policy that would encourage murder.