Reestablishing Deterrence

The Suleimani matter is one of military and foreign policy, not criminal justice, so this is somewhat off-topic. Even so, the concept of deterrence is common to these areas. Lara Seligman has this interview in Foreign Policy with Gen. David Petraeus (Ret.) former commander of U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan and former Director of Central Intelligence.

It is impossible to overstate the importance of this particular action. It is more significant than the killing of Osama bin Laden or even the death of [Islamic State leader Abu Bakr] al-Baghdadi.

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Again what was the alternative? Do it in Iran? Think of the implications of that. This is the most formidable adversary that we have faced for decades. He is a combination of CIA director, JSOC [Joint Special Operations Command] commander, and special presidential envoy for the region. This is a very significant effort to reestablish deterrence, which obviously had not been shored up by the relatively insignificant responses up until now.

In criminal justice as well, the bad guys need to know there will be severe consequences for severe offenses. Long term, going soft means a steady erosion of norms of behavior with disastrous consequences for innocent people.