# Why doesn't the US Negotiate with Terrorists?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-the-us-negotiate-with-terrorists/658720>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [May 19, 2013, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-the-us-negotiate-with-terrorists/658720 "2013-05-19T03:31:11Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 5

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**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\
**Post date:** [May 21, 2013, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-the-us-negotiate-with-terrorists/658720/81 "2013-05-21T22:45:05Z")

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> [@IceQube](#):
>
> Why doesn’t the US?

IIRC Obama negotiated with the Republicans over the debt ceiling. So its not an absolute rule, more like a guideline:eek:;).

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**Author:** ![Dissonance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85f322/32.png) [@Dissonance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dissonance)\
**Post date:** [May 22, 2013, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-the-us-negotiate-with-terrorists/658720/82 "2013-05-22T00:28:35Z")

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> [@PhillyGuy](#):
>
> In the case of Vietnam, this is plausible, but I can only find World War II tonnage figures for the US and Britian. Do you have them for other belligerents such as Germany, Italy, Japan and Russia?
> 
> In the case of Iraq and Afghanistan, I question this. Do you have a mainstream (AKA no-ax-to-grind) source?

It’s true for Vietnam, but like you I have doubts about it being true for Iraq or Afghanistan. According to the [USSBS](http://www.anesi.com/ussbs01.htm#taaatjhi):

> [@](#):
>
> The total tonnage of bombs dropped by Allied planes in the Pacific war was 656,400. Of this, 160,800 tons, or 24 percent, were dropped on the home islands of Japan. Navy aircraft accounted for 6,800 tons, Army aircraft other than B-29s for 7,000 tons, and the B-29s for 147,000 tons. By contrast, the total bomb tonnage in the European theater was 2,700,000 tons of which 1,360,000 tons were dropped within Germany’s own borders.

Which gives ~3.3 million tons of bombs dropped by the Allies in WW2. Presumably this doesn’t count the USSR, and of course doesn’t include the Axis. The Western Allies made more extensive use of airpower than other belligerents and were the only ones to conduct the tonnage extensive strategic bombing on a mass scale, but to be extremely generous and doubling the figure to include everyone else reaches ~6.6 million tons; the actual figure is doubtless much less. Vietnam [saw](http://home.earthlink.net/~aircommando1/Vietnam.htm)

> [@](#):
>
> The total tonnage of bombs dropped over North Vietnam, South Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos came to about 8 million (about four times the tonnage used in all of WWII)

The four times figure referring to total bombs dropped by the US only during WW2. In Cambodia alone, warning, [pdf file](http://www.yale.edu/cgp/Walrus_CambodiaBombing_OCT06.pdf):

> [@](#):
>
> The still-incomplete database (it has several “dark” periods) reveals that from October 4, 1965, to August 15, 1973, the United States dropped far more ordnance on Cambodia than was previously believed: 2,756,941 tons’ worth, dropped in 230,516 sorties on 113,716 sites.

Which is more than the total tonnage dropped by the US in WW2 in both theatres. Its worth noting in explaining this that jet fighters in the 1960s carried larger bomb loads than 4-engined strategic bombers in WW2.

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