That's the (unstated but obvious) logic behind the reason given by U.S. Government officials via the media for why shoulder-fired anti-aircraft weapons cannot be provided to the Syrians rebelling against the horrible dictatorship of the Assad gang. These weapons may fall into the hands of "extremists." And then, maybe, used to try to shoot down an airliner. Which involves three hypotheticals: 1) jihadists get the weapons, somehow, 2) use them to shoot at airliners full of white people, and 3) manage to shoot down an airliner.
Thus, the hypothetical possibility of a few hundred Westerners getting killed is reason to consign thousands of Syrians to death due to the aerial bombardments and resulting military advantage of the Assad regime.
Recall that there is one known jihadist attempt to shoot down a "Western" airliner with such a weapon. It was fired at an El Al jet taking off in Africa. It missed.
Of course, the U.S. is a nation that slaughtered hundreds of thousands of Japanese civilians at Hiroshima and Nagasaki to spare its soldiers lives. So why not let more Syrians die to avoid any risk at all to a few hundred Westerners?
But now the rebels have obtained anti-aircraft weapons from Assad's captured arsenals, and are using them. So it's time for the hand wringing to begin about jihadists getting those weapons too!
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