I was disheartened to hear of civilian deaths being confirmed by the U.N. Four people who were working with an NGO in Kabul. No idea who or what they were.

Considering the mass slaughter that began this chapter this is a ridiculous and trivial side effect of war. But I believe we must keep our eyes open to those side effects and not become jaded about them. We have got to understand the impact of our actions on noncombatants, or the rationale of military action of any kind becomes meaningless.

A