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I agree with everything you've said here. But just for the sake of argument...unlawful is sort of subjective isnt it? Might the unannounced raid and killing o

• lsc 14y ago
  "lawful" certainly depends on what laws you follow. I am, of course, speaking as an American. I think that everyone would agree that the soldier in question was also an American, working under US law. I mean, yes, I'd bet a Pakistani would see the matter differently; But usually, to charge someone with a crime like murder, you need something of a "Mens rea" - the state of mind of the person doing the killing matters quite a lot. In this case, the soldier could reasonably have thought he was acting lawfully under US law, and was reasonably justified in believing that US law was what he had a responsibility to follow. How should conflicts of law be resolved between countries? I don't know. Usually, it seems, the laws of the more powerful country prevails, which obviously has little to do with justice. But personally, I think that if blame is to be assigned, blame ought to be pointed at our government (or, at the very least, higher ups in our government; not the kid who actually had to pull the trigger.)