“How are we better than our enemies, morally, in light of what we all read about today?” the TV journalist demanded.

General Hayden gave a weak answer that minimized his personal connection to the controversial policies, and insisted that most other nations were worse than the United States. A better answer would have gone to the essence of the struggle between America and radical Islamism.

He could have said—and should have said something like: “Everything we do in fighting terror is designed to protect innocent human life. Everything our enemies do in promoting terror is designed to cause death. Anyone who can’t recognize the profound moral difference between protecting life and promoting death is either a fool, or willfully blind, or probably both.”