CT In A New Hope why didn't they disarm the tracking device on the Falcon?

No the Rebellion can't survive for long while the DS keeps blowing up planets. Unlike the Empire, the rebels still have a sense of morals. If the Empire says, "We will destroy a planet a day until your surrender." The rebel leaders won't be able to live with themselves if they have 100 billion deaths on their conscience. And if they refuse to surrender, it will most likely destroy any support they have because everyone will be too afraid to resist. Remember, the DS was a weapon of Terror. The purpose was to frighten and scare all systems within the galaxy to be too scared to dare voice any protest against the Empire. If you have an evil overlord who says "I will kill billions just as an object lesson.", that will break and pacify most people.

So Leia, while she suspects they are being traced, what are her options? Stop and search the ship?
That could take days and they might not find anything. If the device is a s big as Obi-Wans tracer in AotC, it can be anywhere and would be very hard to find. And meanwhile the Empire is killing billions.
Stop and transfer to another ship? Would Han go along with this? Unknown. And they need to send a message that could be intercepted and find a meeting place. And this would again take time.
If the rebellion is unable to find a weakness or destroy the DS, they are finished either way. So by leading the DS to them, either then can destroy it, which means the rebellion will score a huge victory. If they fail it would be the same as the DS going around destroying other planets, the rebellion will still loose. And this way, no innocent planet will pay the price.

The same idea was with the DS2, there the rebellion didn't have a secret base but once complete, the DS2 would mean an end to the rebellion as they can't hope to stop it and they would be finished.

Bye for now.
Old Stoneface

 

Where is the evidence in the film that the Empire is going to senselessly continue destroying planets?

And Leia even lies about the location of the Rebel Base, so innocent lives aren't her top priority. Leia would never "consciously betray the Rebellion", because she realizes that as long as they're alive the Empire will at the very least have some type of opposition. By putting the Rebel base in harms way and not seeking an alternative based on what a hunch? She's making a senseless gamble. If I'm in her position I tell Han to essentially f-off, and scour the ship for any trace of a tracking device. If turning the whole ship over doesn't bare fruit, then I tell my Rebel contacts that I can only meet them in space, and transfer the R2 unit that way. I'd pretty much exhaust all of my options before consciously leading the Empire to a base I had survived torture so far to protect.

 

Do you really think if the Rebellion didn't find the Death Star's Achilles' heel they would just throw their arms up in the air and give up?

 

@ Mindless Monster - Please try to avoid double posting. Use the Edit button or PM for assistance.

 

No the Rebels would have evacuated I am sure? But it seems as much as Tarkin didn't want to evacuate as a precaution measure when the DS was found to have its weakness exploited, the rebels should have had a contingency plan in place seeing they were seconds within being destroyed. So in my view the rebel leaders were as incompetent as Tarkin was not to take action when it was absolutely necessary.

 

Better an uninhabited military target like Yavin's moon than an innocent inhabited world like Alderaan.

 

If we include the EU in this, the Alliance already tried a massive assault on the Death Star, and it failed completely. At that point, their best hope was the attack they launched from Yavin.

In any case, just imagine the reaction to Leia announcing this: "The Alliance believed that, while we had a battle plan after examining the Death Star plans, it didn't reach a level of possible success that we were comfortable with. So, we elected to wait until perfect conditions were in place until we could move against the station. While the destruction of (fill in a number) planets and the death of (fill in a number) trillion lives at the hands of the Empire was certainly regrettable, we felt that it was a better course of action than risking the lives of thirty Alliance pilots and the personnel of a single Alliance base. We hope you'll understand our reasoning on this. Thank you for your attention, and may the Force be with you."

This is followed by scenes of Leia being hanged in effigy by the grieving relatives of those sacrificed.

 

Since Mon Mothma wasn't there, we could assume that she and any other irreplaceable Alliance command personnel were already gone. I'm sure Leia would've stayed to see the Death Star get blasted to Hell, in spite of the risk.

It's basically the same decision Eisenhower had with Overlord: do you attack now when conditions are briefly OK, or hope for a later time when they're perfect?

 

That is the whole Point of the Death Star. It is a weapon of Terror and the Empire can blow up world after world until the Rebels surrender or are betrayed. Tarkin destroyed Alderaan, even after Leia had given him what he wanted, just as an object lesson. The Empire is totally ruthless, that is the point.

[/QUOTE]

Leia lies about base being on Dantooine, her goal was obvious, to divert the DS and give Obi-Wan time. Remember, as far as she knows, Obi-Wan might be on Alderaan right now.
She would know that he lie would be exposed eventually but time is of the essence. If the plans are analyzed and a weakness found, the rebellion have a chance. And I don't think she was totally prepared that Tarkin would actually go through with this. Destroy a military target yes but a civilian world with no weapons? And Tarkin showed her how totally ruthless he is. So now she knows full well that he won't hesitate to blow up other planets in order to get what he wants. So other planets are very much at risk.
As for her never breaking, have her witness planet after planet getting blown up, after the tenth or so planet, do you really think she wouldn't break? With 50 billion deaths on her conscience I would think so.

Tell Han to stuff it? Not really a good idea, it is his ship and he and Chewie would be against her and she wouldn't know where Luke would stand. If she makes too much of a bother, Han could decide to just kill her and be rid of her. Or dump her somewhere. Stopping for a search would take time and might not yield anything. And meanwhile planets could get destroyed. Also, the other rebels don't know if she is alive or about any plans. So they could surrender because they feel their cause is lost, a DS destroying planets and no plans or anything. So getting to the other rebels fast is a good idea.
Sending a signal is risky as the Empire could trace it and give away the location.

Leia have very limited options, she can't order Han to do anything. And she can't afford to waste time either. If a weakness is found then the rebels would then have to go look for the DS. It is kind of a big galaxy. By drawing it to them, they know where it will be. If no weakness can be found or they can't exploit it, their cause is doomed anyway and this way no more innocent lives will be lost.

Bye for now.
The Guarding Dark

 

When examining her comment, you have to keep it in context of the brief conversation she has with Han. Her comment is two-fold. Part of it, is she knows how the Empire operates and is basically relaying she is aware of such. Part of it, is her taking a shot at Han's ego. The ship being tracked is not ideal, but she knows there is no way they'd be able to stop and find the tracking device, which is why she intimates that they, "Don't have much time." when they reach the base on Yavin IV.

 

Yeesh. The early dialogue really was rough.

 

The Guardian Dark already covered this, but I felt like adding my two cents:

The evidence is the Death Star itself. Tarkin had already made it painfully clear he'll blow up a planet full of innocent people to try and get her to talk. It wouldn't be on his conscience, why would it? He's basically using the Death Star as a way to tell Leia, "How many lives do you think you can bear on your soul before you tell me what I need to know? One pitiful little planet of rebels or ten planets with trillions of life forms all snuffed out on my order? Your choice." What was she supposed to do?

Also, tell Han to f-off? Then rip apart his beloved ship? Oh, good idea! It's not like Han made it explicitly clear he had no loyalty to her or her rebellion, only to the money he was going to get once they got to Alderaan. It's not like Han couldn't simply then drop her huffy ass on a planet somewhere (he might leave Luke with her because he probably doesn't have loyalty to him either) and fly away while saying, "No money in the galaxy can make me help her or the farm boy, right Chewie? We'll get that money somehow..."

She literally had no other options. It was either hope this one thing worked or die fighting, but she was not about to let the Death Star go blowing up more innocent planets.

 

That was from the third draft, I think. A lot of the audition process relied on that, while Lucas was working on the fourth draft.

 

Sorry to lower the intellectual tone, but ... she's prrrrdeee ...

 

Tarkin - "Fear will keep the local systems in line. Fear of this battle station."

It's made clear that more than anything the Death Star is a psychological weapon. If Tarkin had explicitly told Leia that if she does not give up the location of the Rebel base he will destroy planet after planet until she cracks, I would be right there with you guys. That's not the case - one demonstration does not mean the Empire is going to go on a planet killing spree. If that were the case, then why execute Leia? Why not keep their valuable hostage and make her watch planet after planet be destroyed, and really test her resolve? It's utter nonsense. The Galactic Empire may be corrupt and oppressive, but it's not stupid. No one would follow a government that indiscriminately destroyed its own people. They would actually be fueling the Rebellion by doing so. The FEAR of the Death Star is all they needed, not a constant reminder of its destructive potential. There's a balance that must achieved to maintain control and that would be going way overboard.

And, I'm sorry, but no one has really made a convincing argument against searching the ship. Surely Han could have been reasoned with. Yes, he's brash. Yes, he's arrogant, but by the end of the film it's clear his heart is in the right place. Leia's decision exists for the sole purpose of having a dramatic show down. There's so many safer alternatives she could have explored, but the film needed an ending. Heck, why not land the falcon on a planet that's sparsely occupied, call the technicians, and try to crack the Death Stars weakness there? Then if a weakness is discovered you call in the Rebel fleet and they try to exploit it. It seems like everyone's argument boils down to this phantom ticking clock that isn't actually evident in the film itself.

I mean, there are so many other scenarios I could envision that would work and would be far more prudent than knowingly leading the Empire to a base that, once again, you have gone through torture and even watched your own planet be destroyed to protect. It's inconsistent logic.

EDIT: I just thought of something else - why not just give Obiwan the coordinates to the secret Rebel Base in her initial message? Ok, if the Empire discovers it they're in hot water, but she's already taking quite the gamble as it is. What would be the harm in bypassing Alderaan?

 

Again, watch the film, Tarkin makes this exact threat, tell me what you know or I'll destroy a whole planet, killing billions. And Tarkin destroys Alderaan even after Leia had given up the location of the base. And he did so just as an object lesson. And one officer said "With pleasure." when Tarkin told him to go to Aldreean. So this imperial officer seemed to look forward to planetary destruction. And in the DS conference room, one officer was urging Tarkin to use the power of the DS. So I think it is very clear that the Empire has no problems with destroying planets to get what they want.
Also consider this exchange:

TARKIN Princess Leia, before your execution
I would like you to be my guest at a
ceremony that will make this battle
station operational. No star system
will dare oppose the Emperor now.

LEIA The more you tighten your grip,
Tarkin, the more star systems will
slip through your fingers.

TARKIN: Not after we demonstrate the power
of this station. In a way, you have
determined the choice of the planet
that'll be destroyed FIRST. Since
you are reluctant to provide us with
the location of the Rebel base, I
have chosen to test this station's
destructive power... on your home
planet of Alderaan.


Notice the FIRST, Tarkin clearly would not hesitate to blow up more planets until they get the job done.
And the DS is meant to be a weapon of fear, that no system will dare to go against the emperor. But what if the rebellion doesn't surrender? Then they will destroy another planet, and another until they do. Also, the rebellion has support from several systems. That support might dry up in fear of the DS, which was one of the ideas behind the DS.

Why execute her? Watch the films, Tarkin is not a man that likes setbacks, he gets offended when the officer suggest that he evacuate the DS and he is outraged that Leia dared lie to him and wants her killed. Which might have been Leia's plan. By lying and saving Alderaan, and making Tarkin look dumb, she might have hoped that he would get so angry as to execute her rather than keep her.
She didn't know that Tarkin would blow Alderaan up anyway.

First, we are talking about Leia's decision here and she doesn't really know Han at that point. All she knows is that he is some mercenary and he made it very clear that he doesn't care about her or the rebellion, he wants money, plain and simple. So treating him like crap and try and ordering him around might backfire.
Second, as been said, a search would take time and might not yield anything.
Third, if the Empire has a tracking device onboard, they could also be tracing their transmissions. So sending a signal to the rebel base could very well give away its location.
Fourth, again time is important, the other rebel leaders might surrender in the face of Alderaan's destruction so Leia has to hurry. And the more time passes, more and more of the rebels support will crumble out of fear of the DS. And others planers might get blown up. And even if it is just one planet, this is still billions of lives. That might be hard to have on your conscience.

Not really, she goes through torture because only herself is at risk there. When faced with an ultimatum, planetary destruction or talk, she lies. Knowing that her lies will eventually be exposed but it will give her father time to find a weakness. But the situation changes when Tarkin goes ahead with the destroying Alderaan anyway. Now Leia knows that Tarkin isn't playing around and she knows how totally ruthless he is. So the logic is quite consistent, she now knows how far Tarkin will go and this means time is of the essence to avoid any more planets getting destroyed.

[/QUOTE]

Well her father knew Obi-Wan and could vouch for him. It is unknown whether anyone on the rebel base knew Obi-Wan and they might not listen to him. Second, her message said "My father will know how to retrieve them." about the data inside R2. So her father could get the data out, again not clear that anyone on the rebel base knew this.
Third, she was counting on Alderaan being a peaceful planet sparing it from the DS but Tarkin showed her how wrong she was.

Bye for now.
Old Stoneface

 

The plot demanded that things keep moving. I agree it would've made more sense not to take an all or nothing gamble, especially since they had no idea if the plans could've revealed a weakness in time, but I guess that type of logic isn't too important in the SF pulp adventure genre. This is, after all, the same movie where Luke turns into an ace fighter pilot pretty much over night.

 

Those officers weren't in charge of the entire operation for a reason. Do you really believe that any government could last if it started systematically destroying its own people on a more realistic earthly scale? You only strengthen the opposition's resolve and create new sympathizers. It's horrible politics to overplay that kind of hand. It's not something you can cover-up either.

I'm sure Tarkin would destroy more targets if deemed necessary, but not on a whim. They didn't just destroy Dantooine. They explored it to determine if the rebels were actually seeking refuge there. Alderaan was destroyed to send a message to Leia and the galaxy as a whole - mess with the Empire and this is what happens. The Death Star, in essence, becomes a deterrent. Leia is right about star systems slipping through their fingers. Tarkin is aware of this as well, but he's banking on the FEAR generated from the existence of such a weapon, and not a planetary genocide to maintain order.

Regardless of what Leia knew or planned for, your argument was that the Empire would keep destroying systems and this would be bad PR for the rebels, and Leia as well, since they didn't deal with the Death Star threat swiftly enough. On top of that you said this - "As for her never breaking, have her witness planet after planet getting blown up, after the tenth or so planet, do you really think she wouldn't break? With 50 billion deaths on her conscience I would think so."

To me its obvious that she would NEVER give up the location of the rebel base, and no amount of planetary destruction would change this. The Empire came to the same conclusion and that's why she became disposable. Leia is actually portrayed as rather cold in the film. Luke comes to rescue her, after her homeworld is annihilated and she's cracking wise with him about his size. She also tells someone "No time for sorrows" when they try to console her about her homeworld being destroyed. Leia is a pragmatist, and realizes that the cause of the rebellion is of chief importance, and one can not let their emotions dictate their actions. That is why her actions at the end of the film befuddle me. She's so smart and so in control, and yet she risks everything on an ill-conceived plan where the risk exponentially outweighs the reward.

If he wants money so bad, then why not turn Leia over to the Empire? Leia knows that there is more to him than just money. A guy with nothing to gain doesn't risk his life for two other people if they're completely heartless. Leia knows a little about Han now, and at least for the sake of protecting the rebellion she should have challenged him more than she did. She just rolls her eyes at Han saying "Not this ship sister!" in regards to being tracked, and she's done with it. To me, that exchange and her passiveness were inconsistent with her actions earlier in the film where she was far more assertive.

The search might not yield anything, but my god, what if it did? It was worth a try. What else are they doing on their way to the rebel base? Playing chess with Chewie? No, I don't think so.

They're giving away the location by leading them there anyway. Why not tell them to evacuate at this point? No matter what they have the read-outs to that battle station and that gives them the advantage. They need time to analyze the material. Putting unneeded pressure on them could have resulted in disaster. Tell the rebels to evacuate, swap out ships and meet at some other predetermined location - like Hoth - and then come up with a coherent strategy not under duress. As long as they have those plans there is hope, and that is something the rebels could rally behind, and not fall into dismay.

She cares more about the cause than other planets. That's the impression I get from the film, and that's why I take such an issue with her leaving a trail of bread crumbs to the rebel base.

Not really too much of a sticking point, but obviously she was wrong, and there were others capable of getting the information out of the R2 unit. I think her message alone would vouch for Obiwan, not to mention the fact that the rebels consist of people who seem to have faith in the force and would have some knowledge of Obi-Wan Kenobi's exploits and Jedi status.

 

Those officers show that Tarkin's attitude wasn't unique in the Empire. And the Empire built the DS, which would have been massively expensive and corresponds to thousands of Star Destroyers.
The Empire's goal is very clear, until the DS was operational, the Senate was allowed to exist, maintaining a pretense of democracy. There was still oppression but the military had to watch their steps. Once the DS is ready, what happens? The senate is dissolved permanently and the regional governors now had direct control over their territories. And big key to this was the DS, that fear of destruction would keep anyone from raising a word of protest. To be effective, the Empire had to show that not only could they do this, they also would. To rule by force and fear.

And cover-up? You missed a big part of why Tarkin destroyed Alderaan. To him, Dantooine was "too remote to make an effective demonstration." He picked a big world with lots of people, clearly wanting to maximize the horror. Also he showed that being a peaceful world was NO defense. The Empire would still destroy you.
Really, what do you think would happen? Alderaan is destroyed and there is still rebellion and Tarkin and Palpatine just go "Oh, this didn't work, we'd better run away then." No, they would destroy more worlds until the rebellion ends. Evil and horrible, yes but the Empire was Evil, that is kind of the point.

There are sadly a number of examples in our worlds history of rulers that have killed or massacred a lot of their own population and they have managed to stay in power for some time.
Fear is an effective tool of government, more is the pity.

They would destroy more targets if the rebellion did not stop. Consider, the US dropped two atomic bombs on japan to end WW2. Why? One bomb did more than enough damage. They dropped two to show that they had more than one of these bombs and to show that they were willing to use them. And it worked, Japan surrendered. They saw that they could face total annihilation if they resisted.
Alderaan was destroyed, as I've said, to maximize the terror. Dantooine was remote and it would take time for the DS to get there. So Tarkin ordered other ships there to scout the system.

If the Empire keeps destroying planets and saying, "The rebellion can end this if they just surrender."
This would demoralize the rebels and it could cause those that support them to betray them out of fear. If you are the ruler of a world that support the rebels and you know that the DS can show up and destroy everyone and there is not a thing you can do to stop them. I think such a ruler could decide to either to break of his/her support and might even tell the Empire where the rebels are just so that they won't all die.

Again you argue that she can watch any number of planets blown up and never break, I don't think so. She would break, I think anyone would. And the Empire didn't decide to kill her, Tarkin did and he clearly was very angry with her. He was shocked that she would lie to him and ordered her death out of spite and anger. Vader then had to persuade him that she could be useful.

Leia is rather cold, I agree and given the level or trauma she would have just experienced, her performance doesn't fit. But the film couldn't really deal with that level of horror and death accurately. Let's face it, it is bigger mass genocide than any in our world's history.

He has just escaped from the Empire, he wouldn't be so quick to go back. And on the DS his own life was in danger along with hers, once they left that changed. If she becomes too much of a bother, Han could decide she isn't worth it and just dump her. Leia isn't really in a position to make demands.

And how long did the trip take? A couple of hours at most. And as I've said, she needs to get to the other rebels as quickly as possible so that they don't give up. And if she thinks the empire have placed a tracking device on the ship she would also realize that they would be clever enough hide it well and it wouldn't be found quickly. If that device is as small as AotC showed, it can be anywhere. Even on the outside of the hull. So a search is just a waste of time.

Could they get out and not loose any material or equipment? I doubt it. So by leaving, they are weakening themselves. So they are on the run, without a base. Then they need to find a new one, build it up, analyze the data and maybe come up with a weakness. And meanwhile the DS blows up 2-3 other worlds, weakening their support and increasing the risk that someone gives them up or morale breaks. And then, assuming that they have found a weakness, they need to find the DS in the whole of the galaxy.
Was it a gamble, yes, but Leia didn't really have a whole lot of other options and deciding to play it safe could have been much worse.

She lied to protect Alderaan, hoping that Tarkin would be delayed enough for her father to get the plans and find a weakness. She certainly didn't expect Tarkin to destroy the planet anyway. And she was clearly aghast that Tarkin would threaten Alderaan in the first place.
Dantooine was remote and there is no indication that it was inhabited, in fact I would think it wasn't, Like Hoth, better to hide on remote worlds where no one lives and then the empire might not find you. The rebels used to have a base there but don't anymore. If the planet is empty then if the DS blows it up then no one dies.

[/QUOTE]


We don't know that, Leia was there when the data was brought from R2. We know that Leia's father could retrieve it, whether they could do it unaided is unknown.
And giving the location to the base is an extra risk if R2 is captured. Then both the data and the base are lost. Leia was still counting on Aledraans name and civilian status to protect it. Remember, when Leia made the message, the senate still existed and she could not know that the Emperor would dissolve it. Or the extent he and Tarkin would go to keep the galaxy in line. Once Aledraan was destroyed, she knew better.

Bye for now.
Blackboard Monitor

 

But Tarkin is in charge for a reason, and he's wise enough to know that destroying planet in mass does not benefit the Empire in the long run. As for your second point, destroying Alderaan accomplishes that. There's no need to target other non-military targets. They proved their point.

Only to send a message. There is no need to go overboard, because as I've said time and time again, the Empire would be creating more adversaries if it didn't take caution in the planets that it chose to target. I agree that the Death Star would attack worlds that they could prove were sympathetic to the rebellion and I'm not asking for Leia and the rebels to sit on their thumbs while The Empire systematically destroyed their homeworlds, BUT you have to keep perspective and realize if you can't find a weakness and the rebels are destroyed the empire will keep destroying planets and there will be no one, at least as well-funded and organized to confront them. Buying more time could cost more planets, but it allows the Alliance to come up with a better battle strategy that doesn't put them in the crosshairs of the Death Star.

What does it matter if it took time to go there? It takes time to travel anywhere. If the Empire is so recklessly evil as you've argued why not just blow it up, even after it's discovered to be a red herring? That's what they were going to do anyway, right - blow up planet after planet with reckless abandon? Were they counting on a rescue party showing up to save Leia, and then convolutedly letting them escape in dramatic fashion and track their movements to the secret rebel base? What exactly is their strategy in all this, before fate played into their hands?

As long as they have the plans there is hope. There is no hope if they themselves get blown off the map. All I'm asking is that Leia tries to buy the rebellion more time, instead of putting them in harms way. If Leia didn't know they were being tracked, then her actions make sense to me.

I won't argue that it was an emotional decision on Tarkin's part, but even Darth Vader suspected that she would never consciously betray the rebellion. To me that implied that forcing her to watch the destruction of more worlds would be a fruitless endeavor.

Go ahead, dump her off. That's actually a fine idea. Launch her and R2 in a pod onto a decently populated world and have her try to contact the Rebellion from there. That way the Empire is still following the Falcon and nothing of significance is aboard the ship.

Hardly. While they were arguing and reflecting on the feasibility of a princess/smuggler romance they could have easily been scouring the ship for any signs of a device. And what if they take their time? The Empire is tracking them, hoping that they will lead them to the rebel base. They aren't going to scramble tie fighters their way, they aren't going to attack other worlds. The Falcon was their primary focus and being aware of that gives them the advantage.

They'd be without a base and their lives if the Death Star destroys them.

What if they didn't find a weakness? Then they go back to the drawing board, they aren't blown to smithereens. If they can't find a weakness other worlds are going to be destroyed anyway. Buying more time is worth the risk if it means being able to analyze the data more thoroughly. Leia puts them in a really difficult position where they have to rush to find a vulnerable spot; who knows with more time and better planning what they could have discovered.

Also finding the Death Star should not be a problem...it's the size of a small moon and it's theoretically mowing down world after world.

Leia did not play it safe at all. In fact, she played it very recklessly...but maybe that's just a Skywalker trait.

 

Right, but it also proves another point which is that either the Alliance surrenders, or watch as other worlds suffer the same fate as Alderaan. And considering that Tarkin's boss is a Sith Lord, which he knows, he is given free reign to destroy other worlds. As to creating other adversaries, when they cannot survive their planet's destruction and the weapon is nearly indestructible, there's little to do but "Kneel before Palpatine."

 

You keep overlooking several things. One the Empire is Evil, they built a giant planet killing weapon and they are eager to use it. So Palpatine obviously don't care about the morale of his subjects, he is an Overlord, not their life coach.
Two, Tarkin blew up a whole world, killing billions only as an object lesson. You seem to argue that he is only willing to destroy one planet but won't destroy two.
Third, the goal of the DS was a weapon of Terror and Tarkin sent a message, "Obey us or we'll destroy you." If the rebels DON'T surrender and keep fighting, do you really think he will go "Oh, I guess the DS didn't work, my bad." No he would keep destroying planets until they got the message.
As I said, in histroy there are several examples of otally ruthless leaders/goverments that have killed, tortured and caused suffering on a large scale on their own subjects.
And "Cost more planets", we are talking about billions of dead, I don't think the rebels are this stone cold as to be able to let that many die for their cause. Palpatine might but he is an evil Sith Lord.

Tarkin deemed Dantooine as too remote to be an effective demsontration but he told Leia that he would deal with them soon enough. When he got the name, he first destoyed Alderaan to get his effective demonstration. Then he sent scout ships to Dantooine. Why? Well the rebels might run once they hear about Alderaan so having ships there could either prevent that or follow them.
When he is told that Dantooine was abandoned, he got really angry and ordered Leia's death. Why go to Dantooine and blow up an possibly empty planet? A better plan would then be to figure which other planets support the rebels and go tho one of them and give them an ulitmatium, the rebels have one day to surrender or we'll destroy this planet. If the rebels don't comply, BOOM. Rinse and repeat.
They never had time to start this plan as the MF appeared in the rubble of Alderaan and was captured. They knew that the MF came from Tatooine, where the plans were. So Vader figures that those on the MF were trying to get the plans to Alderaan and Leia could then still be usefull.

Leia could not know for sure that they are being tracked. She suspects this but can't be sure.
She brings it up in response to Han's bragging and quickly drops it. So she didn't seem very sure.
And her priority was to stop the DS as soon as possible. To do that, get the plans to the rebel base quickly and find a weakness. Leia has seen how totally ruthless Tarkin is and I think she would figure that he could blow up other planets to try and get to the rebels. And she didn't want even more deaths so the DS needed be stopped pronto.

And I don't think Leia is this inhuman, after forced to watch enough death she would break, any normal human would.

Yeah great idea, no money and just dump her somewhere. Even on Tatooine there were imperial troops, so how many planets didn't have any imperial presence? If she is recognized, she could get caught and sold to the Empire. And if the MF is traced and they just go flying around, Tarkin would soon realize that the plan had faield and would resort to more drastic steps, like destroying more planets. In all, this is a stupid plan.

Leia felt that stopping the DS as quickly as possible was top priority. Taking more time and letting more worlds be lost was not something she wanted.

[/QUOTE]

Which was my point, if keep holding of makign amove, waiting for the perfect opportunity, you might loose everything. If you see a chance and take it, risky though it migth be, you could win.
There are several examples of that in wars, like the Eisenhower example mentioned above.

Bye for now.
Old Stoneface

 

Honestly, this thread seems to have been won with the post below.

 

There's evil and then there is evil with a purpose. I believe the Empire was the latter. The Alderaan incident accomplishes the goal of ruling by fear. Even a totalitarian government like the Empire has to find a balance between atrocities towards its own people, and placating them with propaganda that they have their best interests in mind. The more planets they destroy, the harder it is to maintain the lie. The Soviets and the Nazis focused their efforts on groups that they considered a threat. They purged these people, while the rest of their society lived in a relatively peaceful state, and thus they never fully lost the will of the people. The Empire systematically destroying planets, while good for the short-term, would only cause star systems to slip through the fingers in the long term.

It's not about the rebels being "cold" it's about self-preservation and the consequences if they do fail. If the rebels are eliminated who is there to fight for the people? The rebels being destroyed would be far more demoralizing than the destruction of 20 worlds. The rebels aren't ignoring the carnage, they're trying to find a way to end it, but Leia puts them in the unenviable position of having to do some thing in mere hours that they probably needed days or weeks to properly accomplish.

The rebels might run? That didn't stop them from only sending The Death Star to the fourth moon of Yavin. Tarkin was also flabbergasted that Leia lied to him. He was confident that seeing the destruction of Leia's home world would make her crack. He fully believed Dantooine was the location of the secret rebel base, so why not set a course there? That was their only lead at the time.

Her body language and her tone of voice struck me as being quite confident in her suspicions. She drops it, because like you mentioned before, she wants to fight the Empire on the rebellions terms and put an end to this destructive conflict post haste. It's frankly a dumb move on her part. She knows or is at least very confident that the Falcon is being tracked, so she would have to know that the Empire has tunnel vision at this point. Why not take advantage of this? The Empire isn't going to destroy other worlds, because they are putting all of their efforts in following the Falcon. Take your time, and find the tracking device and disarm it. You can then go to the rebel base and they can diagnose a weakness uninhibitedly. THEN you can turn the tracking device on and the Death Star would immediately set its course for the fourth moon of Yavin and then the rebels could put their strategy to work. If they suspect it's a trap, well, at least you have a sound battle strategy that you can employ at a later date.

She would never consciously betray the rebellion. The movie makes this point, and that's the information I'm going on, not to mention her relative coldness and facetiousness post destruction of Alderaan.

They have money from Luke selling his speeder. It's not nearly as unintelligent as leading the Death Star to the rebel base, without knowing if a weakness can be identified.

 

As we say in the homestead: "It's in the script..."