Eliminating Terrorism

Atrios links to this charming letter to the editor:

Executions Would Halt Killings
We can stop the murders of American soldiers in Iraq by those who seek revenge or to regain their power. Whenever there is an assassination or another atrocity we should proceed to the closest mosque and execute five of the first Muslims we encounter.
After all this is a “Holy War” and although such a procedure is not fair or just, it might end the horror.
Machiavelli was correct. In war it is more effective to be feared than loved and the end result would be a more equitable solution for both giving us a chance to build a better Iraq for the Iraqis.
– EMORY METZ WRIGHT JR., M.D.

Lovely sentiment by a supposed “M.D.” Or was this more Bush astroturf?
At any rate, I’ve even heard this idiocy on national radio. The other night I caught a few minutes of Michael Savage. His message, as I understood it, is that if any Middle East nation fails to heed our terrorism policies, we should start leveling its cities, World War II-style.
The scary thing is that there are people who actually believe that such mass murder would make the world safer.