They will do more whether we do what we're doing or whether we don't do what we're doing. And the idea that you could appease them [terrorists] by stopping doing what we're doing or some implication that by doing what we're doing we're inciting them to attack us is just utter nonsense. It's just--it's kind of like feeding an alligator, hoping it eats you last.

Public statements of Donald H. Rumsfeld, Secretary of Defense, 2001 (ed. 2001)