[Serious] Tit for tat.

[Jehanne]

Each of the Hellfire missiles cost 117K (per Google); the terrorist in question was 71. He'll get replaced by a younger, smarter terrorist. I wonder if Ayman al-Zawahiri was resting on his balcony in plain sight for a reason??

[The Grand Nudger]

Killing people in other countries is a horrendously inefficient business, that's true. Zahawiri, though, isn't likely to be replaced by anyone, younger or smarter or otherwise. Those guys are going to new terrorist startups who don't already have the us flinging rocket powered razor blades at the admin staff.

[Jehanne]

I think that he martyred himself deliberately; we've been targeting him for over a decade now. He must have "saw" it coming.

[The Grand Nudger]

Or he was just a man who had a balcony and used it. The last few years could probably give any person the impression that they didn't have to worry about the us anymore. He wasn't the only one who suffered for that misperception, if so.

The next wave of terrorism, even islamic terrorism, probably won't have much of an emphasis on martyrs. Not when a single nerd can do more damage from their basement than 19 suicide bombers pulling of a completely ludicrous plan. The whole martyrs thing was a bit of a narrative anyway - fed into the propaganda of both sides..and it's not like the man himself would be left to comment and confirm or deny a story. Most of your suicide bombers are under extreme duress. The real mujahideen know that it's a rookie mistake to die while killing the enemy. Live to kill another day at all costs.

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

Sarcasm?

Boru

Not at all...

Certain offenses can be capital in times of war.

Falling asleep on sentry duty can and has gotten men shot dead - in wartime.

As has failure to follow orders and desertion.....

....

There have been spies that continued breathing only by virtue of no declared war.....

I was thinking more in terms of soldiers who are killed as a result of military operations (per the OP) as opposed to soldiers killed by their own government for things like dereliction of duty.

A combatant dead for three days doesn’t smell any different whether it’s a declared war, a police action, or a military intervention. Soldiers killed in combat are never extrajudicial killings (there’s a well-established legal right to shoot the enemy).

Boru

[Jehanne]

...while standing on one's porch??

[Pat Mustard]

It seems to me that the United States' killing of Ayman al-Zawahiri is just going to perpetuate the cycle of violence in our World, perhaps leading to a nuclear holocaust.  Why not take the high road and renounce extrajudicial executions?  In spite of being a mass murderer, as a human being, Ayman al-Zawahiri was still entitled to due process under the Law.  I find it ironic that President Joe Biden, who opposes the death penalty, would authorize the deliberate killing of another human being.

That should have been the US's response from the word go. Make the dismantling of al-qaeda a police action where cops capture the murderers, their handlers and those that financed them to face justice in a court of law. And they could have done that by accepting, in the first place, the taliban's offer to capture bin Laden and deliver him, alive, to a third country who could extradite him to the US. The taliban hated bin Laden as much as the US did after 11/9/2001 and for much longer, he was a foreign agent disrupting their hold over Afghanistan for years.

But that would never have worked, because that would have lead to the total destruction of the bin Laden and bin Salman clans who had their claws stuck deep into the US body politic for years.

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

...while standing on one's porch??

Yup. As the acknowledged leader of a recognized terrorist organization which was the aggressor in that conflict, he was a legitimate target. Standing on his porch or having a bath or prostrating himself in prayer.

Boru

[Jehanne]

...while standing on one's porch??

Yup. As the acknowledged leader of a recognized terrorist organization which was the aggressor in that conflict, he was a legitimate target. Standing on his porch or having a bath or prostrating himself in prayer.

Boru

I'm sure that the Russians would agree.

[onlinebiker]

Yup. As the acknowledged leader of a recognized terrorist organization which was the aggressor in that conflict, he was a legitimate target. Standing on his porch or having a bath or prostrating himself in prayer.

Boru

I'm sure that the Russians would agree.

Putin sez "da"!