Now, as to Hraka's (aka Sid Stafford) response to my comment on his post:

SH aka SS says, "Well, most of [the people who are going to take up arms in order to qualify for the program] are going to get caught. Certainly most of the Palestinians do. In any case, they must not only escape Justice, they've got to create a conflagration that burns the US, as this one has. It's not right, but it's the way of the world."

A. I hope that most of the Palestinians who are conducting the terror campaign in Israel are getting caught, but I don't know that to be a fact. Certainly the grunts who actually conduct the attacks are getting caught. What about the leaders and planners and financers and bombmakers and such? Certainly Yasser Isaliar is still walking around.

B. We are talking about an incentive to avoid taking up arms. How many of those who actually take up arms think that they will get caught? And if they do think that they will get caught, are they still rational if they nonetheless persist in taking up arms? And if they are not rational, no incentive is going to have the desired effect on them.

C. Granted that the Middle East has a unique economic and strategic importance to the US because it is floating on a sea of oil, and therefore the conflagration there can burn the US. However, as the recent threat of nuclear war on the Indian subcontinent showed, the Kashmir conflict could have a similar result, in that it could cause the fall of the secular Pakistani government (along with control of nuclear weapons) in favor of an Islamo-fascist regime. I am sure that the Blogosphere can come up with more examples of local conflicts having an effect in the US.

He also says, "There's no incentive for us to do anything ten [subsequently changed to twenty --CG] years after they've finally calmed down over there."

Except keep our word, which I think is important.