It is one of the cruelties of war that people should look to find novel ways of extorting the enemy into acquiescence. Cluster bombs in an urban environment are at least as offensive to me as pig-fat greased bullets would be for a Muslim. Creating an effective climate of terror is never difficult.
For us, here in the U.S., it is our freedom to roam around without having various parts of us blown off that is our Achilles Heel. Attack that and you get people's attention because, unlike some of the world, we are not inured to it. Similarly, we could expect to see similar anti-religious acts performed by us on the other side and reports of Israeli commandos conducting similar religious atrocities on suspected terrorist are well known.
War is a parasite that infests humanity. It is always a lot easier to start a war than to finish it. Toxoplamosis is a parasite carried by the cat that causes its dinner, the rat, to loose its fear of cats. Here's a link in case anyone is interested in this amazing discovery: microbe.org
War seems to fulfill a similar role for humans and causes us to become our own predators. We are drawn to it and obsessed by it.
Before the invasion of Iraq began, I asked a simple question of the pro-invasion contingent: "What does a win in Iraq look like?" Nobody in their right mind would have expected to have a democracy in place when we left, yet that is precisely the stated objective by the leadership. There was no evidence for a modern religious democracy in the Middle East where minority rights were enforced, so it is a goal without historical precedent and no experimental model that demonstrated any hope for success. Turkey, the best approximation, routinely represses minorities. It is a crime to discuss the Armenian holocaust there.
The war-parasite is free to feed on the body and souls of humanity right now because, like the rat, we have lost our reasoning due to the parasitic, mind-bending influence of war. One would think we'd wish to be parasite free and declare war on war. Nope. No such luck. |
