"Poor governance, continuous hostility with India and the cold war have all accounted for the destruction of Pakistan"s social structure and the rise in influence of the extremists," Lt Gen Talat Masood, a former defence secretary pointed out yesterday.
Hardly surprising given England and Ireland have been in a state of almost continuous hostility, from the first Norman invasion, through the settlements under Henry VIII and a period of suppression and famine that led Jonathan Swift to propose the Irish might be better off selling their children as food to the English nobility, even going so far as to suggest a few recipes.
Due to the continuous hostility between the two neighbouring states, the traditional administration which used to monitor the common border was changed into a semi-military structure on both sides.
There is no evidence of continuous hostility between Buckingham and Henry VIII but there is little doubt of the duke's dislike of Thomas Wolsey because he believed Wolsey was plotting to ruin the old nobility and Henry VIII instructed Wolsey to watch Buckingham, his brotherHenry Stafford, 1st Earl of Wiltshire, and three other peers.
Since Miliband became leader, the paper has treated him with almost continuous, escalating hostility.
Even under IHL, you can't kill civilians (those not operating as forces of a warring State) unless they're directly participating in hostilities, or in a "continuous combat function".
Nations cannot lawfully target and kill suspected terrorists unless they pose an imminent threat to that nation, or unless that nation is at war and the target is directly participating in hostilities, or in a continuous combat function.
In war, persons who directly participate in hostilities or who perform a continuous combat function in an armed group are targetable, and bin Laden certainly was the latter, if not the former.
The proper standard for attacking a person under the laws of war is whether the person has a "continuous combat function" or is "directly participating in hostilities".
