The Corruption of the Loaves and Fishes
The Sydney Morning Herald has details on the attack which killed 149 Shi'ite pilgrims. The first bomber drew his victims closer by handing out cakes. Then after the explosion the next bomber drew in more victims by waiting for rescuers to rush to the stricken.
In Hillah, a southern city on the road to the holy city of Karbala, a suicide bomber drew people in by handing them food, an age-old custom during the annual Arbaeen religious festival.
"The first bomber with the explosive belt was giving cakes to the pilgrims," said one survivor. The next bomber waited a few minutes for relatives and friends to rush to the wounded.
Commentary
It's hard to remember, through all of this, that it is terrorist groups who are actively, purposely and cruelly killing innocent people and that it is the United States led forces which are trying to protect them. Whatever the failures or inabilities of the guardians this distinction must never be forgotten. It is the mark of the moral corruption of the current debate that the ethical roles are often inverted by those should know better. That these murderers are evil should go without saying. But it is a terrible commentary on our civilization that it should now be necessary to repeat the most elementary of things: that the names of the guilty are not the names of the innocents.
If we forget this, then nothing is worth remembering.
posted by wretchardthecat at 3/07/2007 07:48:00 PM
8 Comments:
...and there are those who believe we should leave the World to the "mercy" of such people....
Or to pose this as a question, this way...
"Is it so hard to remember, through all of this, that it is terrorist groups who are actively, purposely and cruelly killing innocent people and that it is the United States led forces which are trying to protect them?"
Better, I think. And I cannot, for the life of me, understand how any reasonable, thinking person could possibly think otherwise, let alone a large number of them. To call it merely a "point of view" is patently absurd. I see it as mass delusion of a particularly puzzling kind. And I continue to struggle mightly to understand it, even in light of all of the extensive attempts to explain it. here and elsewhere. Although the word "selfishness" constantly springs to mind, for some reason, if nothing else.
And, I have to say, 3case, that I thought that very same thing, after I read the post...and before I'd had a chance to read your comment.
Now, whatever happened to Muslim solidarity?
Seriously, these suicide bombings may ultimately destroy the Haj as a meaningful Muslim ritual. What is keeping disgruntled Muslims from putting on the vest during the Haj? On a logical level, al-Qaeda's tactics are creating huge incentives for its Muslim opponents to respond in kind during the Haj. In that scenario, authorities in Mecca would be faced with the choice of instituting anal probes (virtual or electronic) for all hajjis, running the annual risk of suicide bombings during the Haj, or cancelling the Haj for the first time since Hegira.
Al-Qaeda supporters should ask themselves whether their political goals are so important that they're worth destroying the Haj as a pillar of faith within Islam. It looks as though there is a war against Islam -- perpetrated by al-Qaeda.
Alexis, as I understand it the Wahhabis are dead set against any monuments including Medina. Their belief was the impetus for the bombing of the Shia shrine at Najaf and I understand that they regularly destroy graves so the faithful can't visit. The fact that their fellow muslims can't understand their eventual goal is surprising.
The deliberate killing of civilians in war is reprehensible, particularly killing people engaged in a religious pilgrimage. The enemy is willing to do anything to prevail. That's effective, that's smart. The killing of the 149 Shi'ite pilgrims will likely undermine support for Operation Iraqi Freedom.
General David Petraeus' counter-insurgency plan will take time, and this successful enemy operation makes it less likely he will have the time to implement his plan.
It would have difficult for even the most ardent of the post modernists to have ever believed that this post is necessary. But it is. Believe it our not, a reminder that the good guys are the ones protecting others from mass murderers is still necessary.
"Now, whatever happened to Muslim solidarity?"
The death of Mohammed.
We have the biggest gun on the block. But Iraq is a knife fight. We should get out, and allow the Shia to defend themselves.
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