Larry (but not only),

I actually did think last night for a long time about the ethics of this situation. My position is in fact quite different from the film as I understand it (I don't know it and I don't have TV). The ethical position in that film is much too rigid and all-or-none for my taste. My position is better described by 'situation ethics' developed by German theologician Karl Rahner shortly after the war.

We Germans have the peculiar situation that we do punish murder and nevertheless approve of the failed attempts to kill Hitler (each year, we praise these men and women and we name schools, ships and whatever after them). I thoroughly approve of tyrant murder when it can save a lot of lives as the killing of Hitler might have. I don't know whether I would have had the balls to do it, given the opportunity, but nevertheless these people are my heroes.

So are, e.g., the jews in the Warsaw ghetto who did not want to go without a fight. In extreme situations, I approve of murder/killing when I think that a lot of lives can be saved this way and when there is no other alternative. I could kill without the slightest remorse when I could prevent this way the ignition of a nuclear bomb on human targets.

But this position is restricted to extreme cases without other means of success. In general, I have much more sympathy for the methods of Gandhi or Mandela to free their people than let's say for the methods of the IRA (with exceptions, in this example), for I think that usually there are other alternatives when you are creative enough.

In this particular case, my position is a clear 'don't know'. I'm appaled by a thoughtless 'kill the bastards wherever you find them' reaction and I don't follow a knee-jerk 'blame the CIA' position. If, for instance, the attack was timed for the election and there was no imminent threat, I'd call it a crime. If there was a good reason to assume that this killing has prevented an imminent attack or probably can save some lives in the long run, I'd approve of it if there was no other option.

Wolfgang