Looks like my case just got unrested.

What is evident is as we permit our fears to grow so does our list of permissibles, it is just a base human instinct. That is why we have things like the Geneva Convention and International Law. We recognise that to behave in a civilised manner we need to think about and codify constraints on our behaviour particularly in times of stress. To abandon them is to act in an uncivilised and illegal manner.

Through our fear some of us have decided that torture is now permissible.

Through our fear some of us have decided that targeting those who have come to the aid of the injured and dying is now permissible.

Through our fear some of us have decided that targeting a man's home and killing his wife and children is now permissible.

Through our fear some of us have decided that targeting a school is now permissible.

Through our fear some of us have decided that targeting a mosque is now permissible.

Through our fear some of us have decided that targeting a gathering of villagers for a religious festival is now permissible.

Of course all of this targeting occurs remotely, out of harms way.

When can we call ourselves cowards?

Dear Poirot,

Your point to Belly was spot on. One of the men I mentioned earlier who was targeted in a drone strike was Jalaluddin Haqqani. Originally bankrolled by the CIA to fight the Soviets he was described by a US Congressman Charlie Wilson (who was played by Tom Hanks in a recent film about Wilson's support the Mujahideen) as “goodness personified”. He became the Justice Minister in the Mujahideen government.

Just before the fall of Kabul he deflected to the Taliban and served as their military commander north of Kabul. He has been invited by President Hamid Karzai to become Prime Minister of Afghanistan.

Now we have killed his wife and sister.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jalaluddin_Haqqani

*So would I be right in surmising that the pro-American Sauds give money to the Wahabs so that they can fund anti-American extremists?....*

Poirot, if only life were so simple. Its far more complicated then
that. Wahhabs run the religious police in SA, they also fund the
building and staffing of mosques around the world etc.

But all good Muslims are meant to give a % of their incomes to
charity and some of these charities do in fact support yet
another school, called the Qutb school, which is the one followed
by bin Laden, Al Zawahiri and the Taliban. Sayd Qutb was an
Egyptian, whose interpretation of Islam is indeed a violent one,
calling for the overthrow of the West, in particular America, and
the dominance of Islam globally. So even you would be wearing
a Burqa :)

In Saudi Arabia, any followers of the Qutb school are soon jailed
as terrorists, for of course their aim is to overthrow the Sauds
and gain control of the oil wells. Bin Laden reckons that without
oil, the West would soon be on its knees. He has a valid point
actually.

But all this does not prevent some Saudis from sending money to
the Taliban etc, through various charities.

It really depends on the ideology of the individual.

Drones have no honour

Gamers are not warriors

Fear is no excuse

As I sat here this morning I am aware murders have yet again been commited in Pakistan over night.
We here must except,the world is not always a nice place.
If it was my task to find wrong, even evil, in ANY COUNTRY in the world it would not be hard.
And I am not a member of the very left, KNOW WITHOUT DOUBT I live in the new left.
A left that understands yesterday was a different era different people different problems.
if any change is possible it must be execptable to most people.
Not one of us will get every thing he/she wants out of any government/system.
And compromise is the best we can hope for.
Instead of high lighting those country's the left targets for wrong why not target the good.
America constantly looks at its self, breeds conspiracy theory's, every day it looks in wards.
Saudi Arabia both supports and fights terrorism.
Our country too is not clean, leaders from both sides crawled,still do to Indonesia after brutal murders of our news men, even now when torture is being used on people who never in history part of that country.
Find the good in radical Islam.
Find way the west can fight against such hate and disregard for humanity without these things happening.
And tell me, why this thread constructed for one reason, can overlook those killed are more likely than not combatants that murder without care.
Islamists lie, the left too, one horrible day another terrorist mass murder will happen in the west maybe here.
Some one day will hope no one ever sees these comments.
It will not be me, be aware goody's do not always win wars

It would appear rather than being an aberrant attack the incident that occurred in my original post where rescuers coming to the aid of the dead and dying were targeted seems to be a strategy that has been adopted by the CIA.

« June 18th in Raghzai, South Waziristan, a U.S. drone fired two missiles into a compound, killing one person. Immediately, locals rushed to the scene to rescue wounded survivors. The drone, still hovering over the area, seized the opportunity and fired an additional two missiles at the villagers who were attempting to attend to the wounded, killing 12 more people, 13 in all. It was suspected that "Taliban commander," Wali Mohammed, may have been the initial target of the attack. Mohammed was reportedly not in the compound. »

I have found two more 'permissables'.

« On Tuesday, June 23, 2009, hundreds of Pakistanis attended a funeral in the Makeen district of South Waziristan for a suspected Taliban leader who was killed in a drone strike earlier that morning. Towards the end of the funeral as people were giving their last prayers, three missiles were fired from at least two U.S. drones directly into the crowd of mourners. Various reports put the death toll at roughly 70-80 people. Conservative estimates suggest that at least 35 of the dead were local villagers, among them ten children between the ages of 5-10 years old and four local tribal elders. Doctors told journalists and reporters that "most of the injured brought to them were [elderly] people."[56] According to one report at least 45 civilians were killed.[57] Another account suggested that "mostly civilians were killed in the strikes." Every report agrees on the fact that no prominent or significant militant leader was harmed in the attack. « 

Through our fear some of us have decided that targeting a funeral is now permissible.

Cont'..

Cont..

« On Tuesday, May 19, 2009 three travelers passed through the village of Khaisor in North Waziristan. In keeping with traditional tribal area hospitality, local villagers served them a meal. Upon finishing their food, the travelers promptly moved on and left the village. These travelers happened to be members of the Taliban. U.S. drones, which routinely conduct surveillance flights of the area, apparently made note of the presence of the three Taliban men. At 4:30 a.m. the following morning (May 20th) a drone bombed the homes of the villagers who fed the men, ultimately "killing 14 women and children and two elders, [and] wounding 11." »

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=16539

Through our fear some of us have decided that targeting villagers who offer any aid to the enemy is now permissible.

One has to wonder just when do we get to the point where it is just one 'permissable' too far. At what point does the humanity present in all of us rise above the fear?

To hear not one word of condemnation of these bombings by some of the posters here I feel the answer may be a long time coming.

I also feel there will be one day some who hope no one ever sees these comments because when the law finally catches up with the perpetrators those who were complicit in their support will have to face the approbation of the rest of us.