0647 - SadMemorial

Tuesday is Anguilla Day here, but Monday is Memorial Day in the States, and a sad one. Some of our Staff are old enough to remember the Vietnam War, and the awful massacre at My Lai. Today, the TV news is reporting that there was a mass civilian slaughter by U.S. troops at Haditha, in Iraq. Those who remember the aftermath of My Lai recall the rather stupid and confused officer blamed. It is not hard to understand how such things happen. You are a soldier on duty; your buddy is killed, and killed from afar without provocation. You go to the house that may have sheltered the terrorist killer, and, in a fury, you shoot everybody, young and old. It can be understood, but it is awful. And alas, it follows what even President Bush now says was a huge mistake, and that is the all but incredible shame at Abu Ghraib prison. Is this America, the hope of civilization? Sad, sad.

We note that the President’s belated regret over prisoner abuse was not accompanied by any belated blame on those in charge at the Pentagon. Nor, again alas, was there any regret for the endless imprisonments without trial at Guantanamo Bay. Nor, finally, was the evil Vice President shamed for supporting torture as a method. In the eyes of any country looking at the proud U.S. from abroad, the red white and blue looks as bad as the inhuman and vile Terrorists. That’s not true, but that’s how it looks.

This nutcase now in charge of Iran who says the Holocaust never happened is a candidate for Hell. The insane pretenders to religion who blow up cars in the marketplaces of Iraq, and Egypt, and Israel, and the club in Bali, and the hotel in Jordan – these are madmen, pure evil, to be summarily eliminated. But, if you start a war in a country that did not attack yours, and your overworked soldiers are left there for years under inept direction, there will be innocent deaths, and you will look bad indeed, and the U.S. does.

That is the point, Readers. The U.S. just should not be in Iraq. No country should attack another because the leadership is corrupt, or evil, or anti-democratic. The world is full of countries run by corrupt, cruel, and vicious dictators. You cannot invade them all. If you want to raise a banner to which the world can repair, you have to do right, not imitate the evil fellows.

After much reflection, The OO has come to the sad conclusion that we are indeed in the midst of a religious war. The origin lies in the religious school – in the Madrasah that preaches hate – a generation back. Remember that bin Laden was and is clear that this is a religious war. The United States, though, has an exaggerated sensitivity to striking at those at the heart of the danger, the teaching to the young (and the old, too) that Allah wants the infidels destroyed. Do you remember this story? Just before the invasion of Afghanistan a drone discovered bin Laden and his Chief Mullah in a meeting, but the order to blow them up could not be issued, because there were preachers there. What has that cost in lives, treasure, and suffering? The origin of evil is not the people living miserable lives in Iraq, it is those preaching in the mosques. And, we may add, there are those in the U.S. who preach similar religious wars but for other religions and other Gods.

To bring this sermon to a close, the only hope for our own souls is not to descend to torture and slaughter, it is to hold ourselves to a higher standard. Ask not what others should not do – we know that – ask what righteous behavior we can ourselves perform. In our War on Terror, we also have to be smart, as we certainly have not been. We have to recognize the origins of the jihad, and deal with it in its nests.

Next time: WildlyExciting [OO #648]

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