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If civilians are going to be killed, I would rather have them be their civilians than our civilians.

I think it is tragic that a situation should arise where civilians on any side are killed. But it is almost a cliche to say that it is virtually unavoidable and this isn't unique to us alone.

For decades, the violence in the Middle East has claimed a multitude of innocent civilian victims: Men, women and children, Arab and Israeli.

Indiscriminate attacks on civilians ought, under all circumstances, to be illegal in war as in peacetime.

No, the United States does not target civilians.

If you shell a military base and happen to kill civilians, you have not committed a war crime; if you deliberately target cities and towns, you have.

The only way to kill militancy, to reduce it, is to provide opportunities to people who have no opportunities. I've always told my American friends that.

I think on civilian casualties they could do more. It's actually something I've discussed with the editors involved. They're aware of it, and I'm hopeful that there will be more reporting on that.

Sacrificing American soldiers or innocent civilians in an unprecedented preemptive attack on a separate sovereign nation may well prove itself a most temporary medicine.