Nation’s warriors protect innocents

War is ugly business. The world is full of sinister groups that destroy innocent life to advance their ideology. Terrorism’s premise is to target innocents to effect insecurity and destabilization. Such purposeful targeting of innocents is barbaric and its proponents worthy of dispatch.

No nation does more

This month marks the 100th anniversary of American entry into World War I. Among the chief reasons was German targeting of innocent life on passenger ships, highlighted by the loss of the Lusitania, with 1,201 men, women and children. Among them were 128 Americans.

Nothing has stirred American outrage more than pur

posely killing innocents. Our republic demands justice even in the use of arms. We bind it in our law, our military codes, and in our treaties such as the Hague and Geneva Conventions. Being Americans, we go beyond that still.

No nation has more systems and checks, or does more training to prevent collateral damage and loss of innocent life than the United States. No nation spends more on advanced technologies to provide precision. America’s warriors are not only trained in these weapons, systems and procedures, they are also bound by a code of honor — and of ethics.

America’s best and most reliable safeguard on targeting is its warriors. The notion that we callously take innocent life is an affront to any of us who have had to make the cruel decisions of whether to take human life or save it. My own battle experiences confirm that warriors will often place great risks upon themselves to avoid innocent lives being lost.

If misfortune should strike, it is usually first reported by our own warriors. And it is usually our own warriors who initiate the investigations. That is who we are. But we should never lose sight that it is the enemy that placed the innocents in harm’s way and bears the burden for such suffering.