Live Breathe and Die

Archive for June, 2006

This is just the briefest note about the death of the terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.  A hundred thousand other blogs will have already expressed their opinions about his death, the mission that led up to his death and all the rest.

Two points that I would like to make; one being directed at Michael Berg, the father of Nick Berg, the young man Zarqawi beheaded a couple of years ago.  Mr. Berg senior is running for political office in Pennsylvania under the Green Party banner.  Mr. Berg is conveniently blaming the President for his son's death and calling the killing of Zarqawi senseless.  Mr. Berg's rationale is that this is revenge, and revenge begets revenge.

There is a major flaw in Mr. Berg's argument.  Zarqawi was a strategic tactician, who was the one who masterminded the deaths of hundreds, and even thousands of Iraqi's, Americans and others.  If his death was only revenge, then the argument ignores the next thousand or more people that Mr. Zarqawi would have doubtless murdered. 

Revenge is punishment for things that have already happened.  Killing Mr. Zarqawi will remove him, and his 25 years of experience as a tactical mastermind, from planning new murders. You can replace the man, but you can not replace the mind. 

With all the Christian-bashing sanctioned in this country, it's interesting to see that a predominantly Muslim country has taken a stand for the 3% of the population that is Christian.

Pakistan has banned the movie, The DaVinci Code, because it is an affront and blasphemous to Christians.  Although I would not endorse that kind of censorship in the U.S., the principle is whats important. The fact that the assertions in the movie are so egregious to Christians, and that respect for the religion is worth taking a stand for, is heartening.  Although radical Islam would wipe out Christians everywhere, mainstream Islam shows respect, based on the notion that we all pray to one God, but that the messengers sent to earth were different.

Probably the most startling revelation I have had recently about the assault on Christians in America came by way of a great piece on the BrotherJuddBlog about the Pope's recent trip to Auschwitz and his speech while there. 

The Pope talked about Nazi Germany's attempt to kill the Christian God and remake God in their image. The Pope's comments were directed at events that occurred in the '30's and '40's. (Read the BrotherJuddBlog posting here.) 

This sounds all too familiar and all too frightening.  Could part of Hitler's plan be revitalized in America today by a minority of extremists?