It's never right to kill civilians

Regarding the Sept. 25 letter, “Today's media change how war is perceived”: The intentional targeting and firebombing of women and children in past wars was wrong then and it is wrong now. As members of the civilized human race we need to have rules in peace and war — the base line of which might be to acknowledge that innocents should not be slaughtered to expedite the winning of a war. If we cannot agree that this is an absolute bottom-line value, then we are not fighting against tyranny and terrorists — we become tyrants and terrorists. If, as was suggested, we resort to their tactics rather than uphold our own standards, then why fight at all? If we are like them, we may as well join them. Then together as barbarians we can find someone else with the moral conviction and standards we used to have and terrorize them. John Carpino, Town Bank - Published in the Atlantic City Press, October 2, 2006