Nine Afghani children were killed by US troops today. This was a mistake, of course.

"We regret the loss of any innocent life and we follow stringent rules of engagement to specifically avoid this type of incident while continuing to target terrorists who threaten the future of Afghanistan," said an American military spokesman.

The problem is this: you cannot wage war today without inflicting civilian casualties. In the American campaign to seek revenge over 9/11 substantially more Afghani and Iraqi civilians have been killed than all those killed here in the states. And the Iraqis didn’t even have anything to do with 9/11.

But the President says the “war on terror” is necessary to keep Americans safe. When will be know Americans are finally safe from terrorism? My guess is we'll never be safe until we do more than bomb other countries and instead offer foreign and economic policies with a concern for human rights as the guiding point.

Americans killed nine children today. Just a mistake.