One of the greatest challenge that governments face, especially democracies, is how to address violent threats without compromising its values. Unfortunately these reservations have allowed the very worst tyrants to gain power. The Talmud discusses this in Qohelet Raba, 7:16"Kol mi shena`asa rahaman bimqom akhzariSof shena`asa akhzari bimqom rahaman."Which is roughly translated as:
"Those who are kind to the cruel, in the end will be cruel to the kind."
If the social democratic leader of Russia Alexander Kerensky had massacred a few thousand Bolsheviks he could have saved millions of Russians from the horrors of Lenin, Stalin and the Soviet Union.
If Rezah Shah Pahlevi of Iran had not shown mercy to Khomeini and the leftist revolutionaries, he could have saved a million Iranians from the dual horrors of the islamic revolution and the Iran-Iraq war.
So, I for one will not lose sleep over the water boarding of a few jihadists.
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