U.S. military acknowledged killing 23 civilians

[tater]

Originally Posted by OneToughHerring

If civilians are being killed, any civilians, for any reason (on purpose, in error or other), then it is equally wrong.

No, it's not "equally wrong" at all.

Intent matters.

By your definition, any civilian casualties negate the use of military power, period. Hitler starts WW2, and if there is ANY chance of the counterattack killing any civilians, it is tantamount to intentionally firebombing a population center with the express purpose of killing as many civilians as possible. That's what your statement I quoted means.

The enemy in this case is intentionally mixing his unmarked combatants with civilians because he knows we will tend to err on the side of not attacking civilians.

In your would-be world, al Queda would simply hide among civilians, and know they were 100% safe all the time. Allied forces could not even raid a house because of the chance they might harm a non-combatant.