Wednesday, March 21, 2007
Suffer the Children
Here’s a thought experiment.
Terrorists use children as cover to execute attacks, killing children in the process. They also try to employ improvised chemical weapons against civilian opponents who won't support their terror aims.
Two starkly different reactions:
1. We cannot judge them morally, for we are at fault. Our enemies must be so frustrated, so desperate, so aggrieved, they can find no other way to fight back. We should retreat and make reparations for the harm we have caused.
2. Our enemies are brutal, frustrated in their aims, and desperate. Oblivious to human rights (or human life) while with absolute power, they show the same hatred and thuggish lust for revenge without. Until we completely vanquish them, which we must, we can expect more of the same.
I know which way I respond. Expect to see these two reactions play out in the days ahead on the political stage.
Jay Nordlinger, writing Impromptu at National Review Online, observes similarly in the context of Palestinian abettors of racial hatred in children:
Terrorists use children as cover to execute attacks, killing children in the process. They also try to employ improvised chemical weapons against civilian opponents who won't support their terror aims.
Two starkly different reactions:
1. We cannot judge them morally, for we are at fault. Our enemies must be so frustrated, so desperate, so aggrieved, they can find no other way to fight back. We should retreat and make reparations for the harm we have caused.
2. Our enemies are brutal, frustrated in their aims, and desperate. Oblivious to human rights (or human life) while with absolute power, they show the same hatred and thuggish lust for revenge without. Until we completely vanquish them, which we must, we can expect more of the same.
I know which way I respond. Expect to see these two reactions play out in the days ahead on the political stage.
Jay Nordlinger, writing Impromptu at National Review Online, observes similarly in the context of Palestinian abettors of racial hatred in children:
About three years ago — maybe four — I sort of gave up commenting on a certain outrage in the Arab world: the indoctrination of little children in a death cult. How many times can you say, “It’s terrible, it’s terrible”? But every now and then, it’s worth reminding ourselves of this outrage.So, have a quick look at this transcript from MEMRI (the Middle East Research Institute). Two children of a suicide bomber — one who was sadly successful — are being interviewed on Al-Aqsa TV, the Hamas channel. Here we go:Precisely so.
Interviewer: What did mama do?Dhoha: She committed martyrdom.Interviewer: She killed Jews, right? How many did she kill, Muhammad?Muhammad: Huh?Interviewer: How many Jews did mama kill?Muhammad: This many . . .Interviewer: How many is that? Muhammad: Five. Interviewer: Do you love mama? Do you miss mama? Where is mama, Muhammad?Muhammad: In Paradise.
And so on, and so on. Read the rest, if you have the stomach. I’ve read a million, and they are all alike. One never becomes completely inured, however. And we must remember that this is the mentality the Israelis are up against, and it is the mentality we are all up against.If a society can do this to children — what can’t it do?
Labels: Iraq, war on terror
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