It has become the ultimate cliché, wheeled out by diplomats, politicians and United Nations officials. “There is no military solution to this problem,” they intone, whether the problem in question is terrorism in the Middle East or any other international crisis.Very often, they have a point. Then, more frequently than you might think, a problem comes along to which the military is the only possible solution. Take the ebola epidemic now raging across five countries in West Africa. This terrible disease has already killed at least 2,600 people and crippled the local health systems. Earlier this month, Médecins sans Frontières (MSF), the French aid agency, made a highly unusual plea. Having done everything within its power to fight ebola, notably by setting