That Osama Bin Laden and his Al-Qaeda organisation has declared war on the United States is a well documented fact. Anyone declaring war must realise that it follows as naturally as night follows day that rank and file represent legitimate targets. I note that the Swedish Foreign Minister did not go into print with regard to the violation of the human rights of the US Marines killed in Kuwait.

The two situations are markedly different in nature, particularly with regard to potential consequence. One, the Yemeni incident, is fairly simple and contributes nothing to the cycle of violence. These men were Al-Qaeda operatives and their deaths will not increase the level or degree of hatred felt towards the United States within that organisation or it's supporters. The other, the Palestinian/Isaeli situation, is far more complex as practically all IDF strikes have resulted in an inordinate number of civilian casualties. The consequence of these attacks is a widening of the support base for Hezbollah and Hamas.

The operation in the Yemen was conducted with the help of the Government of the Yemen and my understanding is that there were no civilian casualties.