America's new moral standard? Better than Al Qaeda.
We should be striving for much better standards if the west is to have any moral authority. Not as bad as Russia, China or Al Qaeda is not good enough.
Then there are practical issues that indiscriminate attacks are liable to create as many enemies as they kill as sons, brothers and fathers are bereaved and decide to join the fight.
[Edit: I'm British not American and I'm not saying Britain is any better but I really hate the "we aren't as bad as something really bad" as a defence for either country's actions. We should do better].
What's your talley of innocent people killed in drone strikes and as "collateral damage" by the US. Do the people affected by those atrocities have the the right to act "in direct response" against the US? If this revenge motive justifies the US, does it not also justify the terrorists?
Nobody's calling this a mistake except the media.
5 Al Qaeda dead, 5-10 people sitting next to an Al Qaeda member also dead.
Intelligence even pointed out which 4 cars out of the 11 car convoy contained the Al Qaeda members.
If you think there is no war going on over there, the 52 civilians slaughtered by Al Qaeda on Dec. 5 in a Sana'a hospital would disagree with you.
Check out how Al Qaeda operates here at the 56 second mark, where one of them casually lobs a grenade into a crowd of civilians during the Dec. 5 attack: http://www.guns.com/2013/12/14/graphic-cctv-footage-militant...
The US drone strike was a direct response to the Dec. 5 massacre by Al Qaeda.