Re: 'Pakistan's Taliban-infested Swat valley'

In English, usually translated as "Kill them all, God will know his own," or - popular in the U.S. military: "Kill them all, let God sort them out."

The former is the literal one; but in English it has the sense of the latter of leaving the choice to God after the fact. On its alleged origin, the guilt or innocence was already determined at the time of the massacre - the "his own" does not mean God would decide later, it means God already knows who are innocent ("his own") and who are not (the heretics that were the "legitimate" targets); so the invaders didn't have to know.

As for the rest, I keep the sentence of the historical pacifists in mind: old people (politicians and generals) declare the wars but young people (foot soldiers) die in them. I can't compare lives, least of all if I don't know one by one every one of them - but even without the local civilian casualties; already more Americans have died on the field (plus the many others physically incapacitated or with PTSD) than died on 9/11. That is like appeasing the volcano god by throwing your virgins into it.

And that's not to mention the fiscal cost. For the billions spent, you could just have put a billionaire bounty on Osama's head (not miserly 25 million) and someone would inevitably have taken the chance.