Murder by proxy

Junaid Hussain was a British citizens, sitting in a car in Raqqa, Syria, a country with which (despite its ignoring of Mr Obama's "red line") we are not at war. But on Tuesday, the United States of America targeted him for death, using a drone presumably "piloted" by someone in this country, either Air Force or CIA.

This stuff really bothers me. Hussain was a hacker--all right. But so is the Chinese government, and so is the Russian government, and so no doubt are the British, French, Israeli, and other governments hacking into our seemingly rather porous government and military computers. Shall we send drones against them all?

Oh, and yes, Hussain was a devotee of Islamic State and perhaps the recruiter of the shooters who in Garland, Texas, tried to kill people associated with a Mohammed cartoon contest. But -- rub him out with a drive-by shooting, like the St. Valentine's Day Massacre of 1929? This is how we run the kindler, gentler America of 2009-2016?

I find it a bit creepy, not to mention the effect on the pilot safe in his trailer a thousand or five thousand miles away. After exploding Mr Hussain and his automobile, does he go home and bounce his children on his knee?