Taliban Funeral

I'm sure most of you have already seen this picture of almost 200 Taliban soldiers attending a funeral for one of their own. I've tried to count how many soldiers are there but it's almost impossible. I've seen reports from 120-200. I counted well over 50 on the first row alone.

This picture was taken from a predator drone armed with hellfire missiles. We could have killed these Taliban soldiers but didn't because it was at a cemetery. You can be sure that if the opportunity was reversed, there would be dead American soldiers. Even worse, by not killing them, this missed opportunity will most likely cost the lives of American soldiers...if it hasn't already.

Are we fighting a war or aren't we?

While not giving a reason for the decision, the military concluded the statement saying that while Taliban forces have killed innocent civilians during a funeral, coalition forces "hold themselves to a higher moral and ethical standard than their enemies."

If we are going to fight by these "higher and ethical standards" we will never finish the job. This was a tightly compact group of soldiers. An easy target. The only "innocent" civilians were already dead and buried. If we didn't want to kill them at the cemetery, why didn't we take advantage of the situation after the burial when they were leaving?

Afghan governor's funeral bombed; 6 dead

Why do we give more respect to cemeteries and mosques then our enemy does? Last week an Afghan governor was killed by terrorists. At his funeral, a homicide bomber detonated a large device killing 6 and injuring dozens.

AP:TANI, Afghanistan - A suicide bomber struck Monday at a funeral for a provincial governor assassinated by the Taliban a day earlier, and four senior members of the government at the service escaped unhurt, officials and witnesses said. At least six people were killed and dozens were wounded.

The blast went off near a tent where more than 1,000 people had congregated in Tani district of Khost province in eastern
Afghanistan at the funeral for Gov. Abdul Hakim Taniwal. He was killed Sunday along with two other people in a suicide attack outside his office in Gardez, the capital of neighboring Paktia province.

Back to the Taliban funeral:

NBC News had quoted one Army officer who was involved with the spy mission as saying "we were so excited" that the group had been spotted and was in the sights of a U.S. drone. But the network quoted the officer, who was not identified, as saying that frustration soon set in after the officers realized they couldn't bomb the funeral under the military's rules of engagement.