War on Hornets

I know I'm not the first person to think of this, but suppose the government had declared "war on terrorism" after the Oklahoma City Bombing? Imagine if they'd had soldiers occupying rural towns, firing cruise missles into Baptist churches, bars and pool halls, abducting folks with anti-federal government leanings and torturing them in secret locations? I know a few Clinton-haters with guns who only needed a flashpoint to join an insurgency. I suspect the USA would look a lot more like Iraq currently does.

So I'm glad the government didn't do that. Instead they treated it like a law enforcement situation, so the only anti-government types they threw in prison were the ones who'd actually pulled the bombing. So the others had no real excuse to insurge, if "insurge" is a word. If only the Bush Administration had shown such restraint.

If you don't kick a hornet's nest, you're less likely to get stung. If hornets build a nest on your porch, smoke 'em out, but don't declare war on hornets and go looking for nests to kick.