Thursday, June 08, 2006
The Death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi - A Theologian’s Response
I turned on the televsion this morning so the kids could watch Clifford, and what did I see - a news conference from Iraq with a picture of Zarqawi alive, and one of him dead. The leader of Al-Qada in Iraq has left this world, along with seven of this partners. What are we to think of this?
I want to stress, I am not a foreign policy or military analyst (though I like to play an amateur one on television). From the political/policy perspective, the death of the terrorist leader will probably have only minimal impact in the short-term, assuming that attacks have already been planned. In the long-term, this is important because it does behead (sorry for the choice of words) the organization (since it was not just Abu who was killed), and makes it clear to those perpetrating the crimes against the Iraqi people that they will be caught up to, and that the people will betray them.
What motivated me to write was the comment from one of Colorado’s U.S. Representatives, Bob Beuprez. He said “today is a great day for humanity.” Is it?
My first response was to remember the words of Ezekiel 18:23, that the Lord does not delight in the death of the wicked, but in their repentance. For this reason, I cannot rejoice at Zarqawi’s death, but I can take delight that his personal crimes have come to an end. Zarqawi was responsible for the death of thousands of Iraqi’s and countless American soldiers. The soldiers may be legitimate targets, but the people of Iraq are not. So, while I take no delight in the death of this wicked man, I do take delight in the end of his personal reign of terror, and can pray that it marks the beginning of the end of the reign of terror that the Iraqi people have endured since the fall of Sadaam (who had a thirty year reign of terror).
I am on record on this website in support of the war in Iraq, as a war of freedom and justice for the people of Iraq. Of course, we have made a lot of mistakes over the past four years, but that is because Bush and CO. are fallen human beings, leading fallen human beings, and so mistakes will happen. The latest incidents in Haditha though highlight what we are doing in Iraq. If, and we must wait for the evidence to judged and trials to come about, the Marines committed crimes, they will be punished to the full extent of military law. If this was Sadaam’s Iraq or Zarqawi’s Iraq, those men would be investigated only to see who would get medals and promotions. That is the difference between justice and injustice.
Which raises the issue of the father of Nicholas Berg, the young man who was beheaded, brutally (I watched the video, which I deeply regret) by Abu Zarqawi. His father, who is not just a leftist, but a moral equivalence person, decided to call Bush the equivelent of Sadaam (or worse), said he doubted that Zarqawi was dead because it was the Bush adminstration saying it (I wonder if the press release from Al-Qada will convince him), and that he did not want Zarqawi dead for the death of his son.
Now, I learned from Hugh Hewitt to give people who have lost loved ones a wide berth in their statements (this is why I am working on an Ann Coulter posting, for her disgraceful words). However, Mr. Berg has made statements that are not just out of personal pain, but are so self-focused that he is part of the problem in the war ono terror. First, the people of Iraq overwhelmingly are happy to have gotten rid of Sadaam. Iraq was “stable” before our invasion only because of the reign of terror of his secet police, just as the regimes of Hitler, Stalin and the current Chinese regime were and are stable because of terror. So, Mr. Berg needs to ask the Iraqi people if they prefer Sadaam to the possibility of a free country.
Second, Mr. Berg’s son is only one of thousands who have died at the hands of Zarqawi, and many more would have died had he been allowed to live (mind you that I wish we could have captured him, because I do not delight in his death, but if the choice was death of possible escape, it was the right move). Okay, Mr. Berg, perhaps you should notice the joy that is spreading across Iraq at the knowledge that the murderer of countless loved ones is no longer able to kill.
Finally, the fact that Mr. Berg doubts anything that the Bush adminstration states creates immediate barriers between left and right that must be healed, in our nation and in the world. We have to begin to agree on the facts, and then realize that both sides have noble, and often similiar desires (like saftey and justice in the world). We may get there by different means (and alas, the one reason above all else why I am no longer a lefty is because I understand that original sin and the fallenness of humanity makes utopian plans worse than useless, even if they sound nice), but the desires are the same. What Mr. Berg’s comments point out is that nothing President Bush says or does, short of handing the keys of the office back to President Clinton, are valid. Can we have peace in our world when men like Mr. Berg, who unfortunately was rolled out by the press, including Fox News, is out there spreading (along with the folks at DailyKos) such venom on a day that is, to use Representative Beuprez’s phrase, “ a good one for humanity.
Let us all pray for peace, justice, and hope for all of humanity.
