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Originally Posted by Zodiak
If the goal is to prevent America from any terror attacks while having them ramp up in the rest of the world exponentially, then yes, your point is valid.
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False dillema. You show the problem as having only two choices, where there are multiple choices.
Also, you might be making a hasty generalization, as there might not be enough information available to truthfully state that attacks will now "ramp up in the rest of the world exponentially".
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I, however, would not advocate for the rest of the world to pay for our strategy with blood in the interest of our protection. There has been too much of that, already, and is reflected in growing world resentment against the United States...an unwelcome development.
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You have now used a strong man argument, as you have deliberately decided to misrepresent the arguments given out by the other side, in order to bolster what you believe.
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If asking the terrorists to stay away was the only policy I advocated, then this point would be valid, as well. However, that is not the case (strawman argument). Plus this is a false analogy because terrorists have not been demonstrated to be like alligators in that they have human intelligence, emotions, and a motivation that goes beyond food and reproduction.
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But what if he was likening terrorists to alligators in the manner of being ferocious and lashing out for illogical reasons?
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Seriously, we have to get beyond this "they want to attack us!" mentality and begin to understand our enemy rather than personify them as ferocious animals for simplicity's sake.
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A form of ad hominem. You are saying essentially that your oppositions arguments are motivated by sloth rather than logic, with nothing to back up your position.
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Sun Tsu (IIRC) says that to best defeat an enemy, one must know and understand his enemy (paraphrased from memory)....I am all for rotting Al Queda from the inside by removing their biggest recruiting tools: western imperialism, poverty, helplessness, and mindless fundamantalism.
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Here you make a misapplied appeal to authority-you try to quote Sun Tsu (who might not even be one individual, but a construct of many ancient historical chinese personalities) as an expert at dealing with 21st century geopolitics in relation to islamic terrorism, where he has not the knowledge to be accorded an expert in that area. You then make an unsubstantiated claim about what the biggest recruiting tools for Al Queda are, where you have presented no information that would make anyone believe YOU are an authority on that subject.