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In reply to the discussion: A Note On 'Drone Strikes', Ladies And Gentlemen [View all]JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)Maybe all the way back to the Roman Empire and before. Think of the Germanic tribes.
How do you know someone is affiliated with Al Qaeda?
Did you read the article about the report on torture? One of the Al Qaeda members or suspected members was tortured in Egypt and stated that Saddam Hussein was helping Al Qaeda. We went to war with Iraq in part in reliance on that lie. We have made mistakes in identifying suspected Al Qaeda members before.
Jane Mayer reported on that in her book, The Dark Side.
It's just too easy for the policy and procedure we now have for deciding who is a terrorist and who is not to go wrong. We need more checks and balances, a more open process for determining this. We can't just rely on hearsay evidence and our reason in determining who is to live and who is to die. That brings us down to the level of the terrorists. If we do that, we become the enemy, and that is the greatest danger in war.