Morality, Religion & Philosophy: November 2006 Archives
Ralph Peters is right: we can't win in Iraq if we're unwilling to kill the bad guys.
What really matters is what our forces are ordered - and permitted - to do. With political correctness permeating our government and even the upper echelons of the military, we never tried the one technique that has a solid track record of defeating insurgents if applied consistently: the rigorous imposition of public order.That means killing the bad guys. Not winning their hearts and minds, placating them or bringing them into the government. Killing them.
If you're not willing to lay down a rule that any Iraqi or foreign terrorist masquerading as a security official or military member will be shot, you can't win. And that's just one example of the type of sternness this sort of fight requires.
That's the difference between a war and a police action. Our enemies are fighting a war, and we're wasting lives trying to arrest them.
Arrest them? We've tried that. Iraq's judges are so partisan or so terrified (or both) that they release the worst thugs within weeks - sometimes within days.How would you like to be one of Iraq's handful of relatively honest cops knowing that any terrorist or sectarian butcher you bust is going to be back on the block before your next payday? And yeah, they know where you live.
Our "humanity" is cowardice masquerading as morality. We're protecting self-appointed religious executioners with our emphasis on a "universal code of behavior" that only exists in our fantasies. By letting the thugs run the streets, we've abandoned the millions of Iraqis who really would prefer peaceful lives and a modicum of progress.
We're blind to the fundamental moral travesty in Iraq (and elsewhere): Spare the killers in the name of human rights, and you deprive the overwhelming majority of the population of their human rights. Instead of being proud of ourselves for our "moral superiority," we should be ashamed to the depths of our souls.
We're not really the enemy of the terrorists, militiamen and insurgents. We're their enablers.
He's right, and even though "political correctness" is losing favor in America when it comes to trivial issues and comedy, we're still not willing to give up our fantasies that everyone is equal, that we don't have any real enemies, and that all problems can be sorted out through conversation and mutual understanding.
(HT: Instapundit.)
So Fox News paid terrorists $2 million to release two kidnapped employees, and the money will be quickly turned around and used to kidnap or kill many others.
Palestinian terror groups and security organizations in the Gaza Strip received $2 million from a U.S. source in exchange for the release of Fox News employees Steve Centanni and Olaf Wiig, who were kidnapped here last summer, a senior leader of one of the groups suspected of the abductions told WND.The terror leader, from the Gaza-based Popular Resistance Committees, said his organization's share of the money was used to purchase weapons, which he said would be utilized "to hit the Zionists."
He said he expects the payments for Centanni and Wiig's freedom will encourage Palestinian groups to carry out further kidnappings.
There are two main reasons not to pay ransoms to terrorists, and both can be seen here. First, if you pay ransom once you're opening yourself up to further kidnappings, on the assumption that you'll keep paying. Second, the money you pay will be used against you, further enabling your enemies.
In the big picture, it's bad for you when other people on your side to pay ransoms to your common enemies... but when it's your loved ones on the line you'll be willing to do just about anything to get them back safely. Why? Because it's unlikely that you'll have to personally bear the consequences, facing further kidnappings of your own loved ones; it's others who will suffer for your decision to save your own. It's a realistic example of the classic moral dilemma: would you save your family from impending doom by redirecting it towards an innocent third party?
Update:
Drudge is now carrying an exclusive note that Fox News denies paying any ransom.
**EXCLUSIVE** INTERNAL MEMO DENIES PAY-FOR-HOSTAGE AT FOXNEWS...Internal FOXNEWS memo to employees from Roger Ailes: 'I just saw an article on the internet from WorldNetDaily.com by Aaron Klein which claims we paid $2 million in hostage money during the Centanni & Wiig kidnapping crisis. The story is absolutely 100% false. Not a cent of hostage money was paid, and it was never considered'...
