Rob Helpy-Chalk writes on moral scales, rankings, values and goals:
Thus we see the difference between the Bush administration and al Qaeda; we see why we fight. Al Qaeda deliberately targets civilians. The Bush administration launches attacks that they know will kill civilians, but which are intended to kill combatants, even if they actually have a small chance of doing so.
cf The Nazis were bad because there ultimate goals were undesirable, but the Communists were good because their ultimate goals were desirable.
One might also add a question about just how many civilians have been killed by each in the last few years.
Finally, America is a democracy. What if Al Qaeda agreed to bomb only cities and counties that overwhelmingly voted for GWB in 2004? Would that count as knowing they will kill innocents, but trying to target so as to mainly kill guilty?
[Everybody, wave at the nice NSA folks. Hello, NSA folks!]