CWB,
I am at one with your heart - you say you are not religious, but your theme was espoused by Jesus 2,000 years ago - and by many, many good people since - a good proportion of whom have ended their lives horribly. What you are discussing is the age old question of Good v Evil.
You are delaing with human beings and their disputes - from the small, petty hatreds of the village gossip machine to the unimaginable hatreds which inspired Tuesday's carnage. To try and change this is as worthy as it is impossible - as long as there are human beings on this planet. If the States changed its policy, threw Israel to the wolves (in the nicest possible way) and commenced the largets hearts and minds operation ever mounted in the Middle East, there would still be bigots, racists and dictators willing to sacrifice lives for their own ambitions. And I don't by any means limit that statement to the Middle East.
You, as you say, are in the Armed Forces to act as a deterrent - and you would, if necessary, risk your life for that principle.
But please accept that there are others who do not give away other lives on a matter of principle.
Now let's imagine that the targets last Tuesday were nuclear power stations. And let's imagine they were successful. Even just a few years ago most rational people would have agreed that whereas the thought was feasible, the reality would probably be confined to a Tom Clancy novel or Hollywood. Now........?
Secondly, lets imagine you and your family are dying from radiation poisoning, along with thousands of others.
Thirdly, assuming you had the time or the inclination, would you write as you have just written?
Or would you have decided, albeit rather too late for your family, that there is now a very real need to combat these killers with all the lethal means at our disposal?
If there is to be any harmony - and I hope there will be with all my heart - it should be on the agreement of means world-wide to do just this.
Good v Evil. You are a good man - you obviously accept that there are evil men - just accept also that in this world there will always have to be a means of destroying them.