Those who argue that the US is as guilty of war crimes as Saddam Hussein or Bin Laden or Adolf Hitler, etc, always disregard the question of intent. Let me ask this question : If any of the above possessed a Perfect Weapon, ie a weapon that would allow them to achieve their goals, how would they use it? Would their use differ from the use the US would make of such a weapon?

I believe that a rational response would take into consideration what the expressed and actual targets of such a weapon would be. For Hussein, it would likely be a weapon that could extinguish those who oppose or frighten him, such as the Kurdish minority, while holding the Shiite Majority in fearful check. For Bin Laden, his perfect weapon would allow him to annihilate the greatest number of innocent non-Muslim people in the most sensational way possible. For the US, the intent is to identify, isolate, and, yes, exterminate Bin Laden and all other terrorist combatants, in the most efficient way possible, with as little damage to innocent non-combatants as possible. Why? Because killing innocent non-combatants does not further the interests and goals of the United States.

While I believe that the circumstances surrounding the involvement of the United States in the War in Iraq involve deliberate deception, and I oppose George Bush's conduct of that war, I do believe that the US has conducted a campaign which has had a very low record of what some call "collateral damage". Instances where American military personnel have acted in ways which provoke charges of war crime, such as the My Lai Massacre of 1968, are the exception which proves the rule. When such a crime has been revealed, the people of this country have expressed shock and revulsion (appropriately), investigations undertaken, and punishments meted out. If a town of Kurds had been destroyed by Hussein's army, medals would have been the order of the day. If a city of Americans, Israelis, or Britons were slaughtered, I very much doubt that Bin Laden would do anything but issue a celebratory video tape.