The larger issue is we have the US one again going into a foreign country, shooting up a group of people that were supposedly terrorists. How far does this privilege of violating national sovereignty to shot some criminals go? We wouldn't consider doing this in Europe if we knew some terrorists were hanging round. In these countries of Africa and the Middle East the US military plays by different rules.

Doesn't the US have some respect for international law? If these men really were al Qaeda (no proof except the usual untrustworthy sources) in a small pocket they are criminals not combatants. We just can't take our planes in where ever we like and shoot down suspected criminals. If Somalia was unprepared to extradite them, we could go in and extract them to stand trial. But just to shoot people, and worse yet, the wrong people in a foreign country is exactly the kind of human rights abuse that we are constantly harping on other countries to stop.

Surely no one can believe that the War on Terror and labeling someone "al Qaeda" does not give us the right to simply shoot anyone in any country. That is absurd, illegal. and most important, unethical.

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Hobo
Charter member of 'Republicans Who Hate Bush" Club