Soldiers not terrorists

In response to “Wake Up!” by Grace Low (June 25): \nMs. Low has good reason to be angry at the deaths of civilians in a recent air strike in Afghanistan. However, the U.S. military should not bear the brunt of her criticisms. In describing the air strike, Ms. Low downplayed the significance of the terrorists’ presence in the targeted building. The primary target was Abu Laith al-Libi, al-Qaida’s leader in Afghanistan and one of Osama bin Laden’s top lieutenants. Although it is not yet known whether al-Libi was killed in the air strike, several other terrorists were among the fatalities.\nUnfortunately, seven teenagers also lost their lives, presumably while serving as human shields. Quoting Ms. Low, “Seven more kids are dead, and it’s our fault.” The truth is, the American military conducted surveillance throughout the day and did not observe any children entering or leaving the building. The obvious implication is that the terrorists prevented the children from leaving in order to use them as human shields.\nMs. Low also stated, “”Whether the targets were using the children as shields is insignificant at this point.” It is, in fact, extremely significant, as the use of human shields is considered a war crime by the Geneva Conventions. Human shields have long been employed by terrorists as defense mechanisms, both to serve as shields from attacks and, if attacked, to use the ensuing casualties as propaganda to weaken their enemies’ positions in the world of public opinion.\nMs. Low asserted, “our own service-people were ordered to kill children in pursuit of the enemy.” To assert that our troops were ordered to kill children is an outrageous statement. In the unlikely event that the U.S. military was aware of a civilian presence, civilians certainly weren’t the target. And as tragic as the civilian deaths were, a greater number of civilian lives will ultimately be saved by the al-Qaida deaths in the strike.\nRegardless of what information the military possessed ahead of time, the thought of calling our troops “terrorists” is reprehensible. The target of the strike clearly wasn’t civilians, whereas terrorists deliberately target civilians. Our men and women in uniform deserve our deepest gratitude for risking their lives on a daily basis and proudly serving our country.