I began a response to this quote and then it occured to me that perhaps we are using two seperate definitions of punitive expeditions. I use the term to mean a military response to avenge some wrong suffered. We have enaged in this type of action before from the Barbary Pirates expedition to Operation El Dorado Canyon. I do not use this term to mean some sort of military response in a COIN environemnt akin to burning huts and killing livestock.Were we to start engaging in punitive expeditions as you suggest, the result just might be an escalation of punishment attempts by the other side.
That being said, I can only hope that you are using the later definition. We cannot base any response to terrorism on what the enemy might do. I do not fear an escalation of violence from terrorists as a response to US actions. They will escalate when they have the means to do so regardless of what we do.
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