Am I alone in thinking that the current season of Fox’s 24 is the best yet ?
I have to believe that I’m not. I mean, look at what we’ve got so far. Jack Bauer back from the dead. A terrorist threat that seems to be knowingly playing on the weakn ….

Tho’ it may not endure til the 24th hour,
Its petals explode, its stem lose all power,
Tho’ it may be shot through by a blazing SIG Sauer,
I send you this big fat red flower, Jack Bauer.

–Sharyn Kilderry, Washington

Of course now, as at least one of the comments has noted, and as the previews seem to suggest, Jack can become the scapegoat. Not only did he disobey a direct order, but his action can be argued to have created the worst of all results. 10-20 people died, AND they lost the ability to track down the terrorists.

I did a pretty superficial search for examples of decoded JN-25 intercepts not being used for fear the Japanese would get suspicious but couldn’t find any. I read in Spector’s Eagle Against the Sun about what I seem to recall were some operations at Guadacanal where we lost ships despite knowing where the Japanese were.

But the Coventry case with Churchill is probably more apt and I should have used it.

That is, if Jack weren’t such a good torturer. Hell, he would have gotten the location of the canisters and had plenty of time to get back and snog with Audrey, catch a late matinee at the mall even.

And BTW, it’s orc.

I have often wondered when watching war movies why the marines always go back after a single lost soldier when they know that some of the rescuing team will probably die. Strictly numerically it just doesn’t make sense. But…

Herein lies the difference between the military and the citizens of the United States of America. Our constitution protects the right of its citizens for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That is what citizens of the United States are signed up for. There is a moral need for citizens to be as sacrificial as their military, but this is not an obligation. Our nation protects the right of its citizens to be non-self-sacrificing.

Here is the point. If it is a choice between persons in the military having to fight and sacrifice for freedom or a few citizens loosing their lives, the cost simply must be the sacrifice of the military. That is the foundation of our military system. It is an incredible one-way street of sacrifice. It is this absolute sacrifice that turns the hearts of the citizens to honor and uphold the military. This is what is so heroic about the WWII Veteran. So many sacrifices were made by so many.

It is wrong when evil people target the lives of anyone, civilian or military. It is wrong to be put in difficult situations such as the following:

“The fact is, President Roosevelt and George Marshall had to make literally dozens of such decisions during World War II thanks to the extraordinary work of American signals intelligence in cracking the Japanese Imperial Navy’s JN-25 staff code. But there was a cost to breaking the code and gleaning Japanese intentions in the Pacific; if the Japanese got even a hint that we were reading their traffic, they would change the code and we would be in the dark again. Hence, while we were able to plan a response to Japan’s attack on Midway Island and the Aleutians in 1942 based on the decoded intercepts, other Japanese moves that we were able to determine in advance were not countered because of the fear that the Japanese would get suspicious. In short, we would become victims of our own success and American sailors and Marines paid the price.”
The Decision @ rightwingnuthouse.com

Who is responsible for this evil conundrum? It is not President Roosevelt or any of his advisors. It is the Japanese Imperial Navy. Who has the greatest burden of guilt no matter what decision President Roosevelt made? The Japanese Imperial Navy. That said, I believe the decision is the wrong one. Again, it is the responsibility of the military to self-sacrificingly protect freedom. The emphasis is upon self-sacrifice. It is one thing to play a gambit in which one sends a contingent that has small chance of success in order to distract or divide an enemy’s forces. It is another thing entirely to use human life like fodder or bait. Would there be great consequences if Japan discovered that America had broken the code? Yes, but our military would have been up to that fight. And they would not have on their conscience that they won their lives at the cost of their fellows.

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After reading through this article I realize that it sounds as though I have this all figured out. I also, realize that their are holes in the ethics and logic all over it. I confess that I don’t have it figured out, but I do think that it is vitally important to discover because of the many implications for possible terror scenarios that our nation and world will likely face in future days. I invite you to help me plug the holes or even change my mind.