Strayed into the margins of imprecision

Source War In Context

After 3,000 Americans died on 9/11, the event was universally described as "an attack on America". After several hundred thousand Muslims have been killed, it should cause no dismay that many of the survivors would likewise call this "a war on Islam". Except–and this is where the Friedmans jump in–they weren't killed for being Muslims. They were mostly killed because they happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. This is how we attempt to shed the moral burden of our actions. We tell the survivors that their loved ones strayed into the periphery of our intentions. They were not killed by mistake but because they came within what we deemed to be an acceptable margin of imprecision. This is how we sweep lives away. And we should ask: Is there any less callous disregard in the casual indifference of a drone-operator for whom human beings are ant-like figures scurrying across a colorless monitor screen, than there is in the murderous intent of a suicide bomber?