[stockpirate]

Not that I disagree with you, but when we dropped the two Atomic bombs on Japan weren't there innocent people in those two city's?

[Gunrunner2]

There were. . .but the action was justified under the concept of "just war."

Just war permits this because of the rule of "proportionality."

This means the attack on Japan was allowed because the expected military gain was worth the expected civilian loss. Terror attacks aim to murder the innocent, not achieve a military gain. Terrorists intent to to harm the innocent, as that is their goal, whereas the attack on Japan had a military objective that was deemed to be proportionate when balanced against the expected civilian loss. It was not an attack with an evil aim, as is a terror attack.

Because it was anticipated that we would experience close to one million casualties if we invaded Japan, then the dropping of the bomb was justified. Just War by Tucker, Just and Unjust War by Walzer are excellent reads on the subject. Also, Just War Against Terror by Jean Bethke-Elshtain is timely and informative.