Best I can tell, Muslims feel way more threatened than we do. Our armies are making inroads into their traditional lands. Trying to actually wipe them out has enormous down sides. And probably wouldn't work anyway.

IMO, torture will yield more long term disadvantage than advantage. The people who administer it become scarred and have problems resuming their normal lives, lot of evidence of that from what I've read.

This nation came into being through a process of enlightenment and a greater equity among peoples than had been the case in imperial Europe. Lowering ourself to the standards of the modern descendents of desert dwelling, bedouin throat slitters doesn't strike me as progress, especially if it's a largely fruitless exercise.

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1986 300SDL, 362K
1984 300D, 138K