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Don't get me wrong; I agree with all of this.
But when you posted it as Ten Commandments, and started with such a good first commandment, that works in all instances, I was hoping for a set of principles that could work everywhere. But #2 started giving that away by specifying terrorism. A simple "D not exaggerate threats" would have worked better. And then you get to things -- "Talk to Iran" -- that, while being wise now, might not come into play in some future encounter with, say, Venezuela.
So I guess I fell for the premise a bit too hard. Perhaps another time?