Comments:Double effect or double standards?

How can you compare the bombing of a munitions plant with the 911 attack on innocent Americans?

I will admit, if the WTC housed a group of people whose elimination could have had a directly positive result for the attackers, it might have made sense. But to claim that the elimination of a bunch of financiers would be beneficial to the goal of the attackers is baseless.
R Bob, US

I agree. Killing is killing no matter how it is done, no matter what the excuse.
Gypsie, US

War is war.
Aaron Benfield, US
 
A well-written and fair account. I just hope that someone in the US administration gets to read this story. The killing of innocents in Damadola is a terrorist action similar in cause to the London bombings.
Oli, UK

Your view on this is wrong. A village in remote Pakistan is not a bus crossing town nor is it an Irish pub.

It is a tight, little community where even the children know when a stranger comes to town. That entire town knew they were harbouring terrorists or, at the least, bad men.

This is another wake-up call to the world. If you aid terrorists, you risk losing your life.
Ron, US

I agree with Mr Hergesheimer. This slaughter of innocents is just another example of the failed policies employed by the Cheney/Bush administration in its “war on terror”.
Max Andrew, US

I do not believe in the killing of innocents and the US has done far too much of that in the name of democracy, whatever that may mean to Bush.
Patricia Kachersky, US

Peace lovers and sympathisers for the well-being of humanity like Joshua Hergesheimer are very many in the West.

I would rather say that the vast majority of the people in the West are not as bad as many in other parts of the world think.

Those who feel they have been victimised by Western policies should know that very many people in the West share their pain with them.

You are both victims of distortions, lies and misconceptions. I hope you will one day be united for your common good. Until that day comes, please hate no one.
Hassan Aden, US

“Double effect” is the new term to replace “collateral damage” but the results are the same: murdering innocent civilians. The old term “communist menace” has been replaced by “terrorist” in order to justify atrocities committed by the state.

The true meaning of double effect must be double-speak with the same effect.
Larry Darrah, US

While the author brings up a good point, he fails to see the flaws in his logic. If terrorists continue to hide behind women’s skirts and children’s toys, then the innocent are going to be harmed. But that is the terrorist’s choice, not the US’s.
Brad, US