Morality and the Fight against Terror

A few postings below, I recalled Dan Halutz's run-in with moralists who felt his defence of the pilots who dropped a bomb on a house in an attempt to kill a terrorist who was responsible (and would become responsible) for many innocent civilians being killed was atrocious and hauled him before Israel's High Court of Justice.

Well, who do you think is now in the same situation? Read on:

Ayman al-Zawahiri -- Osama bin Laden's right-hand man in the al Qaeda terrorist network -- was not killed in a CIA airstrike on a remote Pakistani village, according to a Pakistani intelligence official.

U.S. sources said al-Zawahiri was the target of Friday's strike and initially reported that he may have been among the 18 people killed.

The Pakistani intelligence official said it was not known whether al-Zawahiri was in the area.

Pakistan's Foreign Office said Saturday it had lodged a protest with the U.S. ambassador to Pakistan over the attack on the village of Damadola, near the Afghan border.

"Pakistan will also take up this matter in the next meeting of Tripartite Commission," a statement read. The group is made up of senior military and diplomatic representatives from coalition forces, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Friday morning's strike killed eight men, five women and five children, Pakistani intelligence sources told CNN. Three homes were targeted.

"We are conducting tests to identify the bodies," one intelligence official said.

In the war against terror, these actions may occur. They are to be condemned only if the intelligence and operational planning were lapse or inadequate. Whether or not the US did its best, we'll eventually find out. As for Israel, I believe it did its best but now that Halutz is making a 180-degree turn-about, his morality is now endabgering innocent civilian lives - ours.