The sea cucumber is a very strange creature with a rather peculiar method of defending itself. When attacked it will auto-eviscerate, sometimes expelling its entire
digestive system as a defense mechanism.

According to the article, “Predator Defense Mechanisms in Shallow
Water Sea Cucumbers (Holothuroidea)“, by Jessica A. Castillo of the University of California, Berkeley:

Immediately after evisceration, the sea cucumber rapidly crawled away from its intestines. This is an extremely effective defense behavior especially for predators that prefer to only eat part of the cucumber, such as fish or crustaceans (Francour, 1997). The predator is distracted by the intestines and the sea cucumber has a chance to escape, however this is an extremely high energy cost to the cucumber and that is probably why I only observed it after persistent agitation and removal of all Cuverian tubules.

The sea cucumber will eventually regenerate the lost organs if it finds a safe place where it will be left alone for a long enough time. In effect, it is a defence of last resort that relies on its enemies choosing the convenience of an easy meal over the effort of devouring the originating organism. But it would be insane for a civilized society to ever adopt such a strategy as a defense, now wouldn’t it?

(You need only watch the first half. The important bit is also shown here.)

According to the “logic” of Dick Morris, U.S. soldiers are being sent to Iraq so that insurgents can find an American to kill within easy reach, and so they won’t attack mainland USA. This is the “fight them over there so we don’t fight them here” mantra that the pro-war side forever repeats. This is typically followed with the “if we withdraw the troops the terrorists will follow us home” reasoning. For this to make any sense, the
pro-war side has to wish for a sufficiently high death rate among its soldiers otherwise, by their logic, the terrorists will get frustrated with not being able to kill enough Americans “just around the corner” and will start attacking the mainland instead.

What is particularly sad about Morris’s mention of preventing attacks on Wall Street by deploying Americans “within arms’ reach”, is the implied admission that the rich are using the poor as a human shield. Many US soldiers are poor young adults who were enticed by recruiters with promises of college tuition. Perhaps the wealthy pundits that frequent Fox News have done the same risk calculation as the sea cucumber. The poverty class recruits can be “regenerated” provided enough time has been bought by sacrificing them to our enemies. Stretching this spineless analogy even further, the warmongers are well advised to heed the following advice:

If the cucumber was stressed enough to eviscerate in your aquarium in the first place, chances are slim that conditions are ideal for them to regenerate their gut, either.