A zillion readers have made the fair point that we do kill innocent people all the time, particularly during war. I do realize this (in fact I wrote a short item for the mag on the point earlier in the day). But if you note, I did say that we don’t kill innocent people “as a matter of policy.” I probably could have been more clear, but my point was that we seek to minimize the death of innocents (“collateral damage”) whenever possible.

That said, I do think this raises another angle to all of this. Aerial bombing by its very nature inevitably results in the killing and maiming of innocents and combatants. For some unknowable number of people this means a lifetime of pain, psychological and/or physical. And yet, advocates of an absolute torture ban (or at least the ones who are not complete pacifists) do not argue for a total ban on aerial bombing in all circumstances.

Similarly, I’ve never heard a thorough and succint explanation as to why executing a captured soldier on the battlefield is immoral, but blowing him up in his sleep isn’t. But we can discuss this in the morning.