“Hard cases”, it is said, make “bad law”. We like the outcome, but we deplore the rule.

The news from Swat presents just such a confrontation between a tremendously felicitous result (a genuine Taliban surrender!!—they actually found someone to play Tojo and someone to play McArthur.) and a broad sanction against the sort of remote, “death from above” kill the bad guy + everyone within 50 yards misslle strike that was used here.

In this case, we learn that as result of the assasination of Baitullah Mehsud in August (plus wife & kids, of course) the not entirely unpredictable struggle amongst his lieutenants has totally unravelled the same organization that had successfully forced a truce on the Pak government and then, in violation thereof, occupied and run the whole Swat valley for several months.

I am broadly inclined to the truth of the proposition that no individual’s death, when purchased at the cost of our committment to law and order, can ultimately be useful in a struggle where hearts and minds are the playing field. itself. (David Kilcullen presents a thoughtful *calculus for identifying potential exceptions to this rule and would surely consider Mehsud such.)

The particular Taliban in question, moreover, are especially **odious.

That said, I am disturbed to discover in myself this sentiment, which I must in candor disclose: ” I’m glad they snuffed you Ba’it-ullah! Rot in your Yahwist hell, you twisted perverted asshole!”.

So, does this make me a bad person?

*1) The target in question poses a threat to the international community (not solely to U.S. forces or interests in Afghanistan); AND 2) It is located in an area outside of effective Pakistani sovereignty (e.g. in a non-controlled area of the FATA or in a micro-haven elsewhere) AND 3) Pakistan has tried but failed to extend its sovereignty into the area, or to deal effectively with the target on its own; AND 4) The target is positively identified and clearly distinguishable from surrounding populations, reducing the risk of collateral damage to a level acceptable to elected political leaders.

**They also come at me where I live, so to speak; .”Earlier this year they executed one of the valley’s most popular dancers as part of a moral crusade to drive out public entertainment.”