By Francis M. Deng , Senior Fellow , Foreign Policy Studies Fighting terrorism is admittedly a complex and difficult enterprise with serious political and moral dilemmas. Obviously, terrorists must be punished and if necessary, eliminated. But if this means using terroristic methods, then we must question the objective.
Vengeance is an understandable impulse, but it occupies a lower moral ground.
Elimination is strategically all but impossible. And deterrence seems unrealistic when, for every terrorist killed, there is another waiting in the wings who is willing to go on a suicide mission. Furthermore, any measures that hurt more innocent people than they do terrorists are as morally suspect as the actions they are meant to answer. It is in this light that the recent actions of the United States against the alleged terrorist bases in Afghanistan and a pharmaceutical factory in Sudan need to be appraised. To the extent that they were centers or agents of terrorism, it is reasonable that they be targeted.