I was a little taken aback by the simplistic view of Tom Plate's Sept. 5 article, "What's wrong with talking to save lives?" There is plenty wrong in the instances the author refers to. In the first place, while paying ransom to the Taliban may have saved the lives of those 19 naive and misguided South Koreans held hostage in Afghanistan, it is unclear whether it will actually cost more lives in the long run. The Taliban have declared a "victory" and stated that they will be kidnapping and murdering more foreign nationals in the future because that effort was such a success. And if it is true that South Korea paid a ransom, won't the Taliban just use that money to buy more and better weapons and presumably kill more people?
As for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, the author must be aware that there is no deal yet, only vague promises by North Korea. It has made many such promises in the past and signed good treaties (which it promptly broke). Works every time, South Korea and even the United States promptly send North Korean leader Kim Jong Il tons of aid.
Plate must be aware of history and that the policy of appeasement or payment of ransom has never worked when "negotiating" with terrorists, tyrants, dictators, despots, or just plain criminals. It will not work now.
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