The U.S. and U.K. have been bombing Afghanistan for two nights now. Reports of Afghani casualties are starting to filter into the press in countries outside the U.S. The only pictures we see in America are glowing green night-vision-tinted views of American military equipment and some small dots of light floating against a black background.

The bombings and especially the civilian casualities bring into sharp relief the troubling question of why the governments of two of the most powerful countries on the planet have not chosen to work with the international community to bring those responsible for the crimes of September 11 to justice. Instead, they decide to bomb the country where criminals may live.

Perhaps worst of all, American and British leaders would have us believe that they must make military strikes against Osama bin Laden and Afghanistan because they do not have enough evidence to bring him to trial.