Sunday Night Journal 8/27/2006

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Sunday Night Journal 8/27/2006

August 28, 2006 by Daniel Nichols

A Fit Instrument?

War and peace, again.

–Maclin Horton

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Posted in Uncategorized | 14 Comments

14 Responses

on August 29, 2006 at 9:51 am | Reply Robert Gotcher

“But a peace movement whose members were willing to put their own lives on the line, as ordinary soldiers do every day (which is probably one reason why most people have more respect for soldiers than for war protesters), could not fail to win the respect of all.”

Exactly.
on August 29, 2006 at 11:18 am | Reply Daniel Nichols

fMaclin- Excellent. Thank you for taking the time to express your thoughts on the matter. It was reassuring to me: every time I worry that we are at odds on some principle it turns out that we are not so far apart after all, though we certainly express it differently.
As for peace activists putting their lives on the line, don’t forget Rachel Corrie, the 23 year old American who was bulldozed in 2003, dying as she stood blocking a Palestinian home that was to be razed.
on August 29, 2006 at 3:43 pm | Reply Brigitte

forgotten are several other Rachels who have lost their lives in the Arab-Israeli conflict–all killed by Palestinian terrorists: Rachel Charhi, Rachel Gavish, Rachel Levi, Rachel Levy, Rachel Shabo, and Rachel Thaler.

Corrie’s death was unfortunate, but more unfortunate is a Western media and cultural establishment that lionizes “martyrs” for illiberal causes while ignoring the victims those causes create.

Rachel joined the International Solidarity Movement, a communist-anarchist group who openly support Palestinian terrorism.

She set up shop in the Gaza Strip, where she and her ISM comrades spent their days trying to harass and provoke Israeli troops and interfere with Israel’s anti-terrorist military operations. They would set up obstacles on roads to prevent Israeli troops and otherwise assist and defend the terrorists. The ISM is probably the campus organization most upfront about its support for the Palestinian “right” to engage in terrorism, and that is saying quite a lot these days!

The simple fact of the matter was that Corrie had figured the Israeli bulldozer driver could be cowed into backing off if he saw her blocking his access to the terrorist house; she probably figured correctly, except that he did not see her from his limited-visibility window in the rig.

Corrie died as a result of her own stupidity. She was in Gaza to help promote Palestinian terrorism and to prevent Israel from protecting its own citizens. She died protecting the illegal tunnels into Gaza from Egypt, through which the suicide bombers obtained their materials.
on August 29, 2006 at 4:19 pm | Reply Thomas Storck

I don’t support or approve of terrorism by any entity, whether governments or other groups. But I am far from sure whether all Palestinians who are fighting to protect their homes and land from Israeli expansion should be called terrorists – yes, some of them have been, and I don’t excuse that. But certainly some actions of the Israeli army might well come under that rubric too, not to mention actions such as the blowing up of the King David Hotel by Zionists in the 1940s, an event, if I am rightly informed, that is still celebrated in Israel to this day.
on August 29, 2006 at 8:43 pm | Reply Christopher Zehnder

Apropos of what Tom wrote,I do think that terrorism should be categorically and violently condemned, no matter who uses it or for what cause. However, most outrage at terrorism seems to arise when the enemy uses terrorism. As I understand, the French resistance in World War II used terrorist tactics — but we call them freedom fighters, not terrorists. The Contras in Nicaragua used terrorist tactics, but they, too, were called freedom fighters, not terrorists, by many in the United States. People resort to such tactics when they deem themselves powerless to resist in any other way. But, as modern wars have shown, both insurgencies and duly appointed governments use tactics that are directed to terrorizing people into submission and surrender. Terrorism is not the monopoly of insurgent groups, like Hamas or Hezbollah.

I agree with Maclin that the peace movement has to, like the popes, direct its condemnation at both sides in a conflict, when both sides use immoral means to wage war. But I think peace activists who direct their activities towards their own people play an important role. One has to start with what one knows and understands, with what is closest, and over which he has probably more influence — and towards which he has a real duty. One’s duty is first toward one’s own. And moral outrage will tend to be more vehement the closer its object is to where one lives. If some teenager stole a car, I would condemn it. But if my son did the same, I would feel it more intensely — and have a real duty to do something about it.

That being said, peace activists have to fight the tendency to demonize their own government while thinking benignly of the other side. They have to be clear in their condemnation of both sides when they commit outrages in war. Peace activists tend toward a reverse hyper-patriotism.

One last point: it is true that peace activists in the United States do not have to fear losing their lives. But they do often have to face censure and ostracism from neighbors and from family, which is often very hard to bear. I remember a WWII veteran told me that he received a deferment from entering the military because he had to care for his mother. But the censure he received from all sides made it so unbearable, he said, that he felt compelled to enlist. Courage is displayed not only in the face of death but in the face of mockery and disdain from one’s own.
on August 29, 2006 at 9:33 pm | Reply Stephen Hand, Editor TCRNews.com

“But a peace movement whose members were willing to put their own lives on the line, as ordinary soldiers do every day (which is probably one reason why most people have more respect for soldiers than for war protesters), could not fail to win the respect of all.”

This is happening every day by the grace of God, the very philosophy of CPT

Think also of the blessed witness of Archbishop Oscar Romero and so many who have been tortured and murdered at the hand of CIA-placed Juntas, etc.

“When I gave food to the poor, they called me a saint. When I asked why the poor were hungry, they called me a communist.”—Don Helder Camara
on August 29, 2006 at 9:38 pm | Reply Stephen Hand, Editor TCRNews.com

Terrorism must be condemned as abhorrent to the Christian and civilized mind. But it is also important to understad it, we all here know, in all of its complexities, in order to overcome it:

“Terrorism is the war of the poor, and war is the terrorism of the rich.”—Sir Peter Ustinov
on August 29, 2006 at 9:51 pm | Reply Stephen Hand, Editor TCRNews.com

That being said, peace activists have to fight the tendency to demonize their own government while thinking benignly of the other side. They have to be clear in their condemnation of both sides when they commit outrages in war. Peace activists tend toward a reverse hyper-patriotism.

I think it is the act of aggression and his clear impulse toward empire (read even Buchanan on this point) which has made many hard on Mr. Bush. Such aggression, such a :crime against the peace,” in the supreme violation of international law (see the judgement of the prosecutor of the Nuremberg Trials on
both GWB and Saddam.

Aggression and being the victim of aggression are not morally equivalent states of being and the former is judged more harshly. However, it is critical to give the aggressor a way out if possible as JFK did with NK in 1962 through shrewd diplomacy under extraordinary pressure.
on August 29, 2006 at 9:58 pm | Reply Stephen Hand, Editor TCRNews.com

PS I know few who “think benignly of the other side”. With all due respect, that seems an unfair, wholly inaccurate, and overbroad generalization and indictment of the peace activists I know, Chris. It’s just that in this country we get so much propaganda, 24 x 7, carefully and cynically packaged as “news,” that the quest for fairness toward “the other side” seems odd, naive, weak, and out of place to the victims of that propaganda.
on August 29, 2006 at 10:05 pm | Reply Stephen TCRnews.com

I agree with Maclin that the peace movement has to, like the popes, direct its condemnation at both sides in a conflict, when both sides use immoral means to wage war.

The popes condemn all terrorism, yes, but in this latest Israeli war against Hezbollah and Lebanon the Vatican particularly made a point to say Israel’s response was unjust, disporportionate and libel to bring about greater evils. Just as with the US aggression on Iraq, the Vatican is not hesitant to name the main culprit, even as it warns against perpetuating conflict by the other side.
on August 30, 2006 at 8:17 am | Reply Sarah McFadden

I sleep well at night knowing that there are rough men standing by to do harm on my behalf for my safety and my families safety. I am glad that there are not people like Mr Hand in places of power…we would be overrun with terrorists.
on August 30, 2006 at 11:22 am | Reply Daniel Nichols

Sarah- What a profoundly self-centered way to look at things; those “rough men” may be torturing and killing the innocent, but so long as you are safe you sleep well?
on August 31, 2006 at 7:28 am | Reply William

I love the way folks defend Israeli aggression and brutality against Palestinian civilians by resorting to calling everyone a “terrorist” or a “terrorist supporter”. Sad
on September 1, 2006 at 11:26 am | Reply Daniel Nichols

Pat Buchanan has a great article on Bush calling his enemies “Islamic Fascists” in the current American Conservative, which can be seen at their website: “Orwell said that when someone calls Smith a fascist, what he means is “I hate Smith”.