[RBroadfoot]

"Can there really be civilians in all out war?

It is the "civilians" that manufacture the goods that empower the war machine to continue on."

That's Osama's argument as well.

[rlmorel]

You are giving Osama Bin Laden legitimacy he does not have.

He does NOT officially operate under the auspices of a country.

His scumbag islamofacist thugs do not wear uniforms.

He attacked the USA on its own soil using terrorists in civilian garb.

As I said before, he uses his twisted rationale to justify murder. It is not war. It is murder.

[Zhang Fei]

It is the "civilians" that manufacture the goods that empower the war machine to continue on." That's Osama's argument as well.

Osama no doubt has three meals a day. So do we. He also puts on his pants one leg at a time. As do we. Just because Osama says something doesn't mean it's wrong.

In my book, civilians are legitimate targets if the other side breaks the rules by targeting our civilians. At the same time, it pays to exercise some prudence. Some cost benefit analysis is justified here.

We are fighting, at best tens of thousands of men in Iraq and Afghanistan. Most of the populations of both countries are friendly, and of the hostiles, only a few tens of thousands are motivated to fight us. There is no point in stirring up a hornet's nest by going after their civilians. This is not an enemy that is killing 300 and crippling hundreds of our men on a daily basis, as occurred during WWII.

[Axhandle]

More importantly, it is the civilians who put tyrants into power. I won't lose a minute of sleep over any German, Japanese, or Italian civilian killed in WWII, nor will I fret over any Iraqi or Afghan civilians killed in OIF/OEF. Tyrants don't come to power without their people allowing it. Forgive me if I agree with Osama, but I wouldn't have seen anything wrong with indiscriminate bombing of any Iraqi city in OIF I, had we not had the intel and capability for precision strikes.