Comments | cornellengr2008: Zarqawi Dead

cornellengr2008

Zarqawi Dead

Jun 08, 2006 08:19

I just came across a news article about how we just recently killed the leader of the al-Qaeda insurgency in Iraq. That's good news. Unfortunately, as with so many other things involving this administration in specific and war in general, there was at least one instance of glaring hypocrisy:
"Now Zarqawi has met his end and this violent man will ( Read more... )

theology, politics, current events, ironic

Comments 12

el33tcapitan June 8 2006, 20:09:24 UTC

Murder's defined as illegal killing. Bush thinks he did not commit murder.

el33tcapitan June 8 2006, 20:09:45 UTC

And the 5 others were buddies, not civvies

cornellengr2008 June 8 2006, 21:04:28 UTC

Well, the debate about what "murder" is typically doesn't get resolved, but I thought it was also really ironic that Bush denounced the guy as "violent" when, clearly, this is not a vice we actually care very much about.

anthus29 June 9 2006, 03:30:21 UTC

I considered posting about this. What bugs me is that realistically, killing Al-Zarqawi accomplishes very little. It's not as though the insurgency is suddenly going to end right now. Zarqawi is now just a martyr for the cause. So I'm a little skeptical of the claims that this is a "big blow" against the rebels.

cornellengr2008 June 9 2006, 17:50:28 UTC

I don't think that he's "just" a martyr for the cause and that's all we've accomplished... I mean, if they gain a martyr but lose a great leader, that's good. If they can't replace him with anyone competent, that's even better. If they can, it'll at least cause a period of unrest/chaos within al-Qaeda, which probly doesn't have provisions like we've got for such a situation (25th Amendment). So it's better to have taken him out than not to have, I gather.

anthus29 June 9 2006, 03:31:12 UTC

Also, where did you get the story from? I was wondering about "collateral damage", but the article I read didn't say if any others had been killed.

el33tcapitan June 9 2006, 11:00:38 UTC

The collateral damage, the 5 other people, they were his aides and his spiritual advisor.

No, the insurgency is not going to end, but I'm sure this momentum is what allowed Maliki to get his Interior and Defense positions approved and secured (the vote was held after the announcement) and it's just an overall confidence thing.

The accomplishments are not clear-cut, but I admit I'm thankful that the guy's out of the way, even though someone else is just gonna step up and run the operations in Iraq.

cornellengr2008 June 9 2006, 17:46:54 UTC

I think I got it from some Yahoo! News or something.

h_flo June 9 2006, 20:59:56 UTC

Interesting point. My dad preached on that once, not a whole sermon...but said something about it--the difference between murder and killing.

cornellengr2008 June 12 2006, 14:39:37 UTC

I was also pointing out the accusation that Zarqawi was a "violent" man, since it's quite clear that violence isn't a vice that we actually care too much about...

Also, the difference between murder and killing is philosophically arbitrary - there is no sound line of reasoning that leads everyone to draw the line at A rather than B. Every person decides this for themselves; it's not a universal truth.

the_faceist June 29 2006, 18:44:56 UTC

Buh…. what? Are you serious? Ironic as it is to kill a violent man by violent means, it has been seen as just for I’d say…. thousands of years. It is not a unique idea of 21st century America ( ... )

cornellengr2008 July 16 2006, 10:56:05 UTC

Ironically, I'm color-blind between many shades of blue and purple :P

Just because violence has been the way things have happened for thousands of years doesn't mean we should continue on the same trend. What is unique to 21st century America is the means to respond to violence with something other than violence. Alas, we like being violent way too much to give it up for something as silly as morals

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