Hi Bill,

Indeed, I also find this nightmarish:

from Bill
... a bunch of a lawyers sitting around a very nice wooden table in a room with a high ceiling, large windows with a nice view and an overall classically designed room that gives an air of sosphistication, debating the legal issues concerning our transnational irregular foes. Of course at the same time in ghettos, deserts, mountains and jungles around the world our military, lawmen and covert operatives are out in the field risking their lives to prevent another attack on America with one or both hands tied behind their backs by the lawyers that do not recognize the reality of the threat today.
but then I got to thinking about the reality which too often looks like this (changing your wording a bit):

... a bunch of a politicians sitting around a very nice wooden table in a room with a high ceiling, large windows with a nice view and an overall classically designed room that gives an air of sosphistication, debating the legal and political issues, including the impact on the upcoming election, concerning our transnational irregular foes. Of course at the same time in ghettos, deserts, mountains and jungles around the world our military, lawmen and covert operatives are out in the field risking their lives to prevent another attack on America with one or both hands tied behind their backs by the politicians that do not recognize the reality of the threat today.
and many of the politicians are also lawyers - a partial answer to your last question ("Why didn't the government prevent it?").

There are rational solutions that could be adopted by the executive and legislative branches that would fully accord with the US Laws of War, including the GCs that we accept, re: irregular combatants, targeted killings, detainees and the whole ball of wax - and will result in (1) hands not tied behind backs; and (2) the courts not being involved in the process.

Curious: without going into specifics (OpSec), have staff military lawyers been useful or not in targeting and other special operations ?

Regards - like to write more but it's too late (after 0200 here).

Mike