Wednesday, August 16, 2006

Killing Children

In this post about Americans who support terrorists purely because the terrorists are anti-American, one commenter brought up the moral equivalence argument that because we (unintentionally) killed children in Iraq, and the Israelis (unintentionally) killed children in Lebanon, that the US and Israel are guilty of "murder hiding under the guise of liberty and democracy." Obviously I disagree.

Later I read this post. I was going to make it an update to the one linked above but decided it needs to have its own link here. It has the provocative title On The Virtues of Killing Children. Get past the title, and it's very well thought out. Here's a sample:

"If we did not care if their children died," I add, "there would be no reason to clutter military emplacements with their presence. If it were not that we are horrified by the deaths of children, the enemy's children would be clear of all places of battle -- because they are, except for the fact that we love them, a hindrance."


"It must be," I tell her sadly, "Here: That we pursue war without thought of the children. That we do not turn aside from the death of the innocent, but push on to the conclusion, through all fearful fire. If we do that, the[ir] children will lose their value as hostages, and [our children] as targets: if we love them, we must harden our hearts against their loss. Ours and theirs."


"We can only do," I must warn her, and you. "We can only do, and pray, that when we are done we may be forgiven."


As a commenter to my earlier post mentioned, we undoubtedly killed children freeing the French from the Nazis. Whether or not the French have forgiven us I don't know, but it's not the French from whom we should seek our ultimate forgiveness for such horrible and necessary acts.

4 comments:

Ellen K said...

Death of innocents is a fact of life. Are children starving in Sudan any less innocent than those who are used as shields by a terrorist insurgency that only sees the endgame. And what will they have gained other than the media favor of their own avid supporters. As the ranks dwindle and the young die useless, messy and vengeful deaths, they leave social holes in their population which may take generations to replace. So when all of their men have died through hubris or wickedness or lust for power, what is left? And regardless of how a mouthpiece for Islamically Correct Thinking believes, there is no mother on earth that wants her child in the line of fire. And although their lips may be sealed, I cannot help but believe that their silent prayers to Allah condemn the men who make them targets. And those men are not from the west.

Darren said...

Unfortunately I've seen and heard (if the translators are to be believed) too many who seem more than happy to offer their children against the infidel.

I think it was Golda Meir who said, There will be peace when the Palestinians love their own children more than they hate Israelis. The same could be said about most in that death cult.

Darren said...

It's a fairly well-known cartoon but deserves repeated publicity. If you'd like to see it, go to
http://wightwingwadical.blogspot.com/2006/08/islamic-vs-western-philosophy-whats.html

Mama Wombat said...

Darren, there's more to that quote from Golda. She also said that we will be able to one day forgive them for killing our children, but we will never forgive them for making us kill theirs.