Richard Sahn

Driving us ever closer to the brink of World War III and possible nuclear annihilation is the bi-partisan, seemingly all-American political position that we “never negotiate with terrorists.” That means having no diplomatic relations with the “bad guys.” “Terrorists,” we’re taught to believe, must be followers of Satan himself. (Witness Joe Biden’s “Gates of Hell” comment about the Islamic State.) Or, from a purely secularized perspective, they are obviously infected with extreme psychopathy. It seems that anyone who dares to talk about talking to “the terrorists” is regarded as an appeaser or even as a friend of “the terrorists.”

Yet at the same time going to war against other peoples, and inflicting torture, suffering, and death on innocents, is considered acceptable by Western nations if those wars are couched in terms of protecting freedom. You’re a patriot if you support your country when it goes to war no…