There is no such thing as a non-combatant.
American governmental policies have ensured from the beginning
of this nation that non-combatant is an absolute non-sequitur.
It perhaps began with the indigenous tribes, Wounded Knee and
the trail of tears come to mind. On and on down through the years,
Mai Lai is a modern example and to bring the carnage up to date
the drone strikes will d0.
These bastards that use the above term have coined a clever phrase
for their crimes, they call it “collateral damage”, which is a
euphemism for “slaughter of the innocents”.
Talk about unintended consequences though, this government
and prior governments have made sure that when retaliation
occurs , no American be they man , woman or child will be
considered a non-combatant… 9/11 proved that, did it not?
Islander