Anwar Al-Awlaki dead

[patrick1]

He's a US citizen; he at least should have gotten a trial in America.

You going to send in the troops to Yemen to get him.  It was a target of opportunity.  We had Bin Laden in our sights several times and never pulled the trigger.  That is a risk I would not take again.

I don't care if this guy was a former Presidential of Freedom award winner.  He declared war against the US and sanctioned the murder of Americans. Further, his fingerprints have been on dozens of plots going back a decade. This is a war. Many US citizens served with the Nazis and Japanese too- If he wanted his trial he should have surrendered himself off the battlefield.

[patrick1]

But of course, if Al-Awlaki was a Christian, he would have been put on trial.

if a "Christian" was plotting terror attacks on the US, I'd be willing to kill him myself, just as I would Al-Awlaki...his religon doesnt make a difference to me if he is a terrorist

It does to the U.S. government though.

They are entirely different cases, but I don't think david koreshs christianity pulled any weight.

[patrick1]

Yes, I am very pleased that someone who plots to kill me and my neighbors is dead.  Al Qaeda and fellow travellers had been attacking the United States or their interests for a decade with ever increasing deadliness.  We tried the soft, crime fighting, approach from before even 93 and it bore little fruit.  It emboldened terrorist organizations into bigger attacks like 9/11. They felt the US would retreat from the world stage when attacked and operated with impunity.

 This may seem alien to you, but I think we take the fight to our enemies and eliminate them.  AQ's leadership has been dismantled and the large groups are running scared.  There is a proliferation of lone wolfs, but with sources of funding and training camps cut off the sophistication of the plots is amateur.

Civilian deaths are regrettable and our forces do what they can to avoid them 99% of the time and have clear R.O.E. Our enemies seem to have little regard for this.  Whether it be sawing local people's heads off, blowing up tribal elders who dare defy them, killing people commuters in a train station in Mumbai or using a ball bearing laden vest in a crowded market. Sadly, more civilians died in the 1990's from civil war before we got there and more will die after we leave.