A SPECK IS REMOVED IN PAKISTAN—WHAT OF THE PLANK REMAINING IN THE USA?

Today’s Port Huron Times Herald features an extremely rare front page world news headline [most now are local, or reverberate national war declarations]. “Bin Laden Dead.” Celebrants from all parties surround the White House into the early morning. The mastermind of 911 is dead. Our man in Afghanistan, who helped us defeat the Soviets in that theater of the Cold War, is dead-- three decades later successfully killed by U.S. CIA. special forces across the border in Pakistan. 1

ut the War on Terror is not dead, we are quickly reminded by pundits, the President, and members of Congress. Al Qaeda lives, and will probably retaliate. Bin Laden has achieved in the eyes of many of our enemies, the martyr's death. It will fertilize their fanaticism and confirm their conviction that justice is done by inflicting extra-juridical death sentences. He was killed by a “headshot.” This is the method the U.S. has adopted over the past ten years, and Al Qaeda believes in the same. “Take-no-prisoners” war lives on undiminished, by mutual agreement. We could not have tolerated the trial of a captured Bin Laden, in which the history of consensual war crimes dating back to the 1980’s [when he was our freedom fighter in Afghanistan] would be publicized.

The collateral killing of the innocent is also accepted by mutual agreement. President Obama in his statement late yesterday named Bin Laden a “mass murderer of Muslims” [in addition to U.S. citizens on 911], apparently referring to his routine suicide bombings which target U.S. forces, and Muslim collaborators along with innocent Muslim bystanders. More innocents, especially as we took the sidetrack invasion of Iraq, have died, in the hundreds of thousands, as a result of our firepower and caught in the crossfire with insurgents. 2 Our rules of engagement have ordered that 30 collateral lives are expendable in the effort to target one on our wanted list. 3

Will this help us end these wars? This joint eye for an eye justice enterprise. We cut off the monster's head in Iraq [Saddam hanged 12-30-06]. That war then surged and rages to this day, only to be eclipsed by the current Afghan / Pakistan escalation. As our troops stormed towards Bin Laden’s execution, a probable U.S. missile had just hit a Qaddafi compound in Lybia, reportedly killing his son, and three grandchildren, ages four, two and one. 4

A mother, Alisha Qaddafi, of one of them four days before.
Qaddafi Daughter Provides a Glimpse Inside the Bunker – For story see
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/27/world/africa/27aisha.html?_r=2&ref=global-home

These successful attacks all occur a day after a royal wedding, which was not upstaged by Bin Laden’s death, nor vice versa. This is the way official England explained the Lybia event. Prime Minister David Cameron of Britain told the BBC that the airstrike fell within the [UN] Security Council mandate to stop a “loss of civilian life by targeting Qaddafi’s war-making machine.” 5 Perhaps grandkids are construed part of the war-making machine in today’s world, where violating the fifth commandment has become routine business.

Our nation which has most institutionalized war, more or as much as any from Roman empire or German state before, must stop leading in this path of vengeance and hyper-militarized international confrontation. This is not what democracy looks like, whatever the transient positive results. My prayer is, as it was at mass today, “Lord may we truly end these wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and especially, may we end the war in our hearts.”

In sum: Jesus’ way to take out the enemy. “`Vengeance is mine; I will repay,’ says the Lord.” But ”if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty , give him something to drink; by doing this you will heap burning coals upon his head.” Do not be conquered by evil but conquer evil with good. Rom 12:19-21 These can be the burning coals, of repentance and conversion, that bring blessing to all warring parties.

1 http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704569404576298063240517794.html?mod=ITP_pageone_0

2 http://mit.edu/humancostiraq/

3 http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/300/whats-in-a-number
Act 2 -- is interview with Pentagon targeting expert giving innocents ratio. Whole episode well worth listening to.

4 http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/02/world/africa/02libya.html?ref=world
Unfortunately the last third of this article was redacted by NYT online from the original by this afternoon. I include the final paragraph of original saved in the am below—contact me if you’d like full article.
Two friends of the Qaddafi family said that the victims included the 4-year-old daughter of Colonel Qaddafi’s daughter, Aisha el-Qaddafi, 36; a 1-year old son of Mohammed el-Qaddafi, the colonel’s eldest son; and a 2-year-old whose father is Hannibal el-Qaddafi, though it was unclear if it was his son or his daughter. The funerals for the victims would be held on Monday, the friends said.

5 http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/02/world/africa/02libya.html?ref=world

Illuminations by Kathy Brahney