David was a liability to the group and should have been killed. The thing with the animorphs was that they were kids with emotional attachments. In a total war, in my opinion, it was necessary to apply total war to the Yeerks.
David != Yeerk. He's a kid with a totally screwed-up ego who got caught in the wrong place at the wrong time, was offered a chance to rise to the occasion, and instead set about trying to murder Earth's
last, best hope for victory (bad! no B5!) only resistance. The moral thing to do would is to contain him with as little injury as possible. He has to become a
nothlit because it's nearly impossible to imprison morphers (like we saw with Jake and the military at the end). He has to be trapped in a non-dangerous morph and prevented from contacting the Yeerks. Sure, they could of killed him, but at what personal cost? The Animorphs did just enough to ensure their safety.
Plus, that particular scheme was very satisfying to read. It was a good heist-plot. Like in Ocean's 11, when we've been wondering for a good hour at least how they'll get the money out of the casino
[spoiler]they intercept the casino's 911 call and show up dressed as the SWAT team.[/spoiler]
the part of the plan where Tobias lets the others out of the bottle is brilliant.
Several things:
Identify and kill key Yeerk leaders. Take down the organization and particularly go after soft targets (unlike Visser 3 who is a hard target). Chapman would be a perfect example.
Or Tom, V3's chief-of-freakin'-
security, who just happens to eat with Jake most nights. The problem is that the one thing that is holding Jake together through it all is the hope he can save his family. When he loses that hope... well, most fans were not happy with what Jake did
then.
Collateral damage WILL occur. Steps can be taken to minimize it, but the mission takes priority. In the Yeerk pool the voluntary hosts should have been killed to again through the Yeerks into disarray and keep them hostless.
Voluntary hosts are combatants. Involuntary hosts are hostages, which brings us to a very sticky point morally. Usually, the answer is to avoid injury to hostages. The problem is that this rewards the hostage takers, and therefore paradoxically puts non-combatants at risk. It was a very grave strategic error to avoid killing human-controllers, especially when they had no qualms about killing (all involuntary) Hork-Bajir
Lure hard targets into the open where they can be eliminated. Much like when Visser 3 had to abandon Alloran in the meadow.
Conclusion: the ideal people for this situation would have been SAS, Delta, or Spesnatz soldiers. They are trained ideally for this kind of warfare.
Ah, yes, let's talk about strategy. First, we'll look at the resources the Animorphs have at their disposal, by the end of The Attack:
- First, they're human. Average, yet well-rounded, physical abilities combined with instant adaptability.
- They're surrounded by humans, potential allies, if they can just identify controllers. They significantly outnumber the Yeerks, by over 10,000:1
- Aximili may be a poor student, but even the scraps of Andalite tech are very useful. He's established z-space communication single-handedly. Imagine what a Manhattan Project could do with him!
- They've made contact with the Chee (Coincidence, that the Chee ended up on Earth? I think not...), with their incredible intelligence-gathering abilities.
- They've met the Yeerk peace movement.
Cassie has a Yeerk morph, too.
Correction: Cassie doesn't acquire a Yeerk until The Sickness. But, they do have Leeran morphs.
- Jake has a Howler morph for when it absolutely, positively must die. (Strange that he never uses it...)
- Don't forget the Escafil device.
- The Ellimist has given them the story of the Iskroot and, through Jara, the story of the Arn, Hork-Bajir, and Andalite.
The juxtaposition of those two stories screams "foreshadowing!" to me. The Animorphs now have a way, a slim chance perhaps, but still a chance, to bring peace to the Yeerks. They just need to find some bio-engineers, Arn, Andalite, or human, then convince the Yeerks to accept modification. A combination of a military defeat with a propaganda campaign conducted through the Yeerk peace movement should do it, especially since (it has been hinted repeatedly) most of the Yeerk population does
not sympathize with the imperialists.
So, what is their first priority? Freedom of action. The worst strategic mistake the Animorphs made from the beginning was to try to keep the pretense of normal lives. Melt into the mountains. Don't give the Yeerks anything to work from, even if they do realize that the resistance is human.
Second, find trustworthy human allies in positions of power. There's no need to wait a full 72 hours to discover a controller.
Cassie has a Yeerk morph, right? Three words: direct cranial examination. Correction: nope, but they can morph psychic aliens. >:D
Third, begin building Earth's defenses. Can you imagine if a task-force of, say, 10k known-clean humans got some better sensors, perhaps some sub-light fighters and shredder artillery? Of course, this means breaking Seerow's Kindness wholesale, but a surprise attack from Earth could quite possibly force a Yeerk surrender even without Andalite assistance.
Anyway, thats what I expected to happen. Now you can see why I find the ending so tragic.
