So far, Tanzanian police have arrested 14 suspects from Sudan, Iraq, Somalia and Turkey. For perspective on the bombings, assistant op-ed editor Melana Zyla Vickers spoke with Robert Oakley, coordinator for counterterrorism at the State Department from 1984 to 1986 and former U.S. ambassador to Zaire, Somalia and Pakistan. The interview has been edited for length and clarity. The people who did the bombing in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam are burning with rage against us. The deterrent value of bringing terrorists to justice is vastly exaggerated.
Most terrorists have extreme dedication to their cause, and so they're willing to run great risks.
Also, it takes a long time to find and lock up terrorists, and this diminishes the shock effect. Consider that we've not been able to get the people who blew up the embassy in Beirut in 1983. It's not a good track record. The effort to bring terrorists to justice is important and worth making, but it's not a deterrent. The net is cast as widely as it can be.