Reply #19: Its not a bin Laden exception. It is a war exception. International law is clear on this

[stevenleser]

and the US is a signatory to the UN Charter and the various Geneva conventions.

The battlefield is generally Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Can you look at the following that I put in my OP and consider them in the context of Al Qaeda's actions right after the second declaration and tell me that we are not at war with them:

In August of 1996, Osama bin Laden issued the first of two declarations of war against the United States. He issued a written religious edict, called a Fatwa that was unambiguously titled "Declaration of War against the Americans Occupying the Land of the Two Holy Places." In this Fatwa, he called on all Muslims to join him in this war against America and Israel.

In February 1998, bin Laden issued a second Fatwa declaring war against the United States, it’s allies, and Israel. In this second declaration of war, bin Laden among other things said “The ruling to kill the Americans and their allies -- civilians and military -- is an individual duty for every Muslim who can do it in any country in which it is possible to do it”