Higgins and the other Western hostages are blameless victims of a terrorist scheme. Israel responded by taking a limited action, highly targeted to the person directly responsible for the kidnaping of their own countrymen. I commend the article to my colleagues. The question came up again this week with a ferocity following the murder of Lt. Col. William Higgins by his radical Shiite captors. There is much lip service paid to the notion that we shouldn't capitulate to the terrorists, that to appease them is to whet their appetite, that to reward their behavior is to cause them to repeat their behavior.
Terrorism can go on without sanction, that is the message of passivity.
Israel is the one country that does not merely pay lip service to the anti-terrorist struggle. It takes the splendid ideas formulated by former Secretary of State George Shultz and converts them to a living policy. Shultz said that we must take the offensive against terrorism. He said that we must use our intelligence networks. He said we must identify the terrorists, develop a consensus concerning the terrorist threat, and then take action.