Massive retaliation may create more terrorists and public sympathy for their cause

Evidence

Some nations promptly answer attacks with massive, deadly retaliation, whatever the costs might be, on the grounds that this is the price they must pay to check terrorism. Opponents of such policies argue that excessive countermeasures only make matters worse by creating more terrorists and increasing public sympathy for the causes that drive them to violence. Vigorous debates rage over whether massive retaliation curbs terrorism or exacerbates it. — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 2277