But this argument trades on our inability to put ourselves in the position of any of the larger number of people killed by the Islamic State and other terrorist groups. They have become victims only because the estimated $125 million in ransom money paid to such groups over the past six years has enabled them to arm more militants to carry out lethal attacks.
但这一观点的要害在于我们无法将我们自身置于更大数量被伊斯兰国和其他恐怖组织杀害的人的处境上。他们之所以成为受害者，完全是因为过去六年所支付的大约1.25亿美元赎金让伊斯兰国能够武装更多的军人实施致命袭击。我们应该用我们的资源拯救最多的生命；而总体而言，支付赎金可能导致更多的生命损失。