Winning the war against Islamic extremism will require being true to humanity’s deepest and most commonly-held principles: respect for freedom and the universal dignity of a human life. As long as we value the lives of a few hundred passengers on an American airplane above the lives of tens of thousands of penniless peasants in Afghanistan or Pakistan, we will continue to lose this war. If saving the lives of a few hundred innocent civilians at a wedding in Afghanistan requires that we accept the increased possibility of an airplane crash in the U.S.A., that’s something we need to have the courage to embrace.