Has the US's philosophy on terrorism changed?

[Siegmund]

The US has repeated, over and over, for the last forty years or so: "We do not negotiate with terrorists. Period."

We are currently fighting what is called a War on Terror in various parts of the country.

As a result, I am very puzzled by the news today that the US is offering a $200,000 reward for the whereabouts of three missing (presumed kidnapped) soldiers.

Now, to me, this means we've now established a beautiful little system whereby soldiers can be kidnapped and held for ransom, and the kidnapper doesn't even have to send us a ransom note. Yeah, let's reward each successful kidnapping with a cash infusion to to the terrorists if they give back the victim to us.

It sums up in a nutshell why the old "we never negotiate" line made good sense - anything we give up to get back the prisoners becomes an asset for our enemy, and encourages them to do it again. It's one of the few really hard-line stances all of the previous administrations have agreed on.

It amazes me that our current people - the ones who have been beating the terrorism drum the loudest, nonstop for the last six years - are the ones who choose to soften this rule.

This not being the politics board, I'd prefer to see the thread here discuss the pros and cons of a country's attitude toward terrorism, rather than be purely an argument about whether the current administration blew this.