What gets me is that there are people who totally ignore the victims in these cases but will literally sacrifice their own life and those of others to protect the perpetrator…
Well, this is a serious problem for us. Nobody wants that the lives of innocent are at risk, whether it may be the kidnapped boy or the immediate threat of an attack against US soldiers in Iraq (Abu Ghraib). But still, our justice systems (and I don´t exclude America here) must treat the kidnapper/terrorists with RESPECT (I know it´s so hard).
When a kidnapper takes hostages, it´s ok to shoot the kidnapper: the state kills people intentionally. It´s the same with the shooting down of hijacked planes. But where can we draw the line, saying "now this is illegal!" According to our laws, it´s that we may prevent somebody from doing something (like killing hostages by killing the kidnapper) but we must not compell somebody to do something (like confessing the crime/telling which is the next target, etc). A very difficult situation, because the behaviour could be justified, and even morally accepted, but the law says otherwise.