1 Martian 1: Let's come back to that Middle East thing. What's next on the list of Earth administration?
2 Ishmael: "Reduce the threat of global terrorism without curtailing civil liberties of the populace in general."
3 {beat}
4 Martian 1: More giant machines of war?
4 Ishmael: See how handy they'd be?

They would just solve everything!

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2017-11-08 Rerun commentary: Some readers may see the small flaw in this argument.

There's actually no guarantee that giant machines of war patrolling your neighbourhood and keeping everyone under constant surveillance would reduce the threat of global terrorism.