the good is oft interred with their bones.

I think what you are getting at is moral equivalency. I do not mean respect in the sense of greeting us in polite manner. I mean respect the fact that however rude that we are, in this period of our history, we can easily subjugate them either militarily or economically. If they cannot police their own crazies, then we will do it for them and most probably in a manner that they will not care for. When I say fear, I mean, that if they don't at least respect us in the manner that I described above, then they will fear the near holocaust that will ensue... Remember Hiroshima and Nagasaki? Most don't. That generation is almost gone.

Say what you will about the morality of the a bomb, but just the "threat" of us using it AGAIN kept many countries from agression towards us. The world has changed. Even Pakistan (the home of Bin Laden) has the Atomic bomb now. There is a new reality and talk about mass destruction is not just an academic exercise. For my children, I would rather our country be the subjugators and not the subjugatees...

Back to moral equivalencies... I love dogs. When I read about a dog that has attacked a human and is euthanized, I think "poor bastard"... But we can identify in animals, that when one "goes bad" he cannot be "fixed"... I think when one is willing to give up his desire for self preservation - no matter what the cause - he cannot be "fixed". He should be put down. For the greater good. Whether this analogy applies to a few "rotten individuals" or a few rotten countries. I think there was a song about how one insect can destroy so much grain...